Green Communities Initiative Announces Grant Guidelines

The Green Communities Initiative is a five-year, $550 million initiative to build more than 8,500 homes across the United States that provide significant health, economic, and environmental benefits to low-income families and communities. The effort is a partnership of the Enterprise Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, and leading corporate, financial, and philanthropic organizations.

The initiative will offer financing, grants, and technical assistance to developers to build affordable housing that promotes health, conserves energy and natural resources, and provides easy access to jobs, schools, and services.

Grants will help cover the costs of planning and implement- ing green components of affordable housing projects, as well as tracking their costs and benefits.

A minimum of $1 million in grant funds is available to participants. Individual grant amounts will range between $15,000 and $50,000.

The grant competition is open to 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public housing authorities and tribally designated housing entities. For-profit entities may participate through joint ventures with qualified organizations.

See the Enterprise Foundation Web site for complete infor- mation, grant guidelines and application instructions, and an FAQ.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Home Depot: $30M Green Building initiative

[From Philanthropy News Digest]

The Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity International have announced the 2010-11 grant recipients of the Partners in Sustainable Building program, a five-year, $30 million green building initiative designed to incorporate sustainable building practices into five thousand homes nationwide.

More than 135 Habitat affiliates across forty-two states will receive a $3,000 grant for each home built that meets Energy Star standards and up to $5,000 for each one built to a higher green standard. Over the next year, the grantees are expected to build 2,400 homes.

To date, participating affiliates have certified nearly fifteen hundred homes nationwide. By incorporating sustainable practices and using energy-efficient, durable materials in the construction process, many of the homes achieved green building certification with little additional cost, while owners of the homes have reported lower utility bills and noticeable health benefits.

“Habitat for Humanity International and the Home Depot Foundation Announce 2010 'Partners in Sustainable Building' Program Grantees.” Home Depot Foundation Press Release 9/08/10.

Choice Neighborhoods

Department of Housing and Urban Development: Choice Neighborhoods Initiative: Planning and Implementation Grants
Application deadline: October 26, 2010
This program provides support for implementation efforts to transform neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into mixed-income neighborhoods of long-term viability, grow communities and metropolitan areas, support positive outcomes for all residents, and ensure that current residents benefit from transformation. Support is also provided for planning efforts for the development of comprehensive neighborhood transformation plans that integrate effective strategies to implement public and/or assisted housing revitalization, the coordination and design of supportive services, and neighborhood-level planning to improve a range of neighborhood assets.

Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants Program

Section 104(k)(5)(A)(iii) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish guidance to assist applicants in preparing proposals/applications for grants to provide environmental training to facilitate the management, assessment, and cleanup of sites contaminated by solid and hazardous waste.

EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) provides funds to empower States, communities, Tribes and nonprofits to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up and reuse sites where real or perceived contamination exists and does so by working through OSWER's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR); Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery; Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation; Office of Underground Storage Tanks; Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office; Center for Program Analysis; the Innovations, Partnerships, and Communication Office; and Office of Emergency Management.

In 2010, OBLR undertook an effort to more closely collaborate on workforce development and job training with other programs within OSWER to develop a job training cooperative agreement opportunity that includes expanded training in other environmental media outside the traditional scope of just brownfields.

As a result of this collaboration, the former "Brownfields Job Training Grants Program" was expanded and will now be referred to as the "Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) Grants Program."

Through a notice in the September 1, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER, EPA is soliciting comments on the new FY 2011 Application Guidelines proposed for the Program.

Comments will be accepted through September 13, 2010. EPA expects to release a Request for Applications (RFA) based on these revised application guidelines in October 2010 with an anticipated deadline for submission of applications in January 2011.

The draft application guidelines/RFA can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/. If you do not have Internet access and require hard copies of the draft guidelines, please contact Joseph Bruss at (202) 566-2772. Please send any comments to Joseph Bruss no later than September 13, 2010.

YouthBuild Walmart Foundation grants

[Philanthropy News Digest] The Walmart Foundation has announced a $2.6 million grant to YouthBuild USA to support education and job training for low-income youth.

The grant will provide training in green building skills to two thousand 16- to 24-year-olds while they work toward their GEDs or high school diplomas. Through YouthBuild programs, the young people will help build affordable housing units for homeless and poor people in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

“The Walmart Foundation Awards $2.6 Million to YouthBuild USA.” Walmart Foundation Press Release 8/11/10.

Nonprofit ranked as top national builder

[From Philanthropy News Digest] With the housing and financial crises having dealt a blow to the nation's large, publicly traded home builders, Habitat for Humanity has emerged as one of the top builders in the country, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Habitat, which was founded thirty-four years ago in Americus, Georgia, to build, repair, and rehabilitate homes for low-income families, recently was ranked eighth on a closely watched industry list compiled by Builder magazine of the nation's top ten builders, based on the number of homes sold and closed. Habitat's closings were down by 3 percent in 2009, to 5,294, while two of its competitors on the list, the Ryland Group and Hovnanian Enterprise, saw their closings fall by 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively. "We're a lot less tied to the market as a whole," said Mark Andrews, Habitat's senior director for U.S. operations. "We've been able to keep chugging along at a pretty solid pace."

This was the first year Habitat appeared on the Builder list, and it could be the last. The nation's public home builders, itching for recovery, have been ramping up construction, while Habitat is focusing its attention on acquiring and rehabilitating vacant, foreclosed homes and making them available for sale. The recession also has strained Habitat's finances; last year, the organization laid off 8 percent of its corporate staff and its year-over-year cash donations declined by 9 percent, to $171.8 million.

Governor Rendell Announces More Than $600 Million Available For School Districts for New Construction, Energy-Savings, and Science

Dozens of school districts across Pennsylvania will get a funding boost for a wide range of new construction projects, with attractive financing that will save hundreds of millions of dollars, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today. Learn more.

Weatherization

Pennsylvanians are invited to offer feedback on proposed changes to the state’s weatherization program intended to better serve the public and help residents lower their energy bills, the Department of Community and Economic Development said today. Learn more. View plan changes.

Innovative Energy Retrofits

[From Philanthropy News Journal] The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced a call for proposals related to innovative, scalable strategies for energy efficiency retrofit programs or policies that address the existing building stock in the United States.

Funding priorities include but are not limited to sustainable and scalable business models for implementing energy efficiency retrofits; policies or programs that seek to advance aggregation of disparate or fragmented opportunities in energy efficiency retrofits to increase the energy savings potential; innovative financing models and other mechanisms to ease upfront costs of efficiency improvements or increase the attractiveness of investments in energy efficiency; policies or programs to secure greater energy efficient performance in buildings such as through benchmarking or improved operations and management; policies or programs to drive deep energy efficiency retrofits in existing buildings; policies or programs to address split incentives; and mechanisms to increase the effectiveness of and property owner participation in state, local, utility-sponsored, or privately-sponsored energy efficiency programs (proposed partnerships between such programs and applicants for DDCF support are encouraged.

Proposals may be targeted to any particular barrier or segment of the buildings market (e.g., office, commercial, institutional, retail, residential, single-family, or multi-family). Research to help formulate programs or policies to address barriers is eligible as long as the path to implementation or adoption is clear.

The foundation will invite full proposals based on from pre-proposals, with grant l ranging from $100,000 to $350,000 each. Up to a total of $3 million in grants will be awarded.

Applicants must be U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations.

For more information and an online application from, visit the DDCF Web site.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINANCE FORUM

THE 4th ANNUAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINANCE FORUM

"Financing, Capital, & Deal Sourcing for Energy Efficiency"
May 20-21, 2010
The Standard Club Chicago, IL

Register today and don't miss the 4th annual Energy Efficiency Finance Forum! There are only 2 weeks left to register! If you're looking for financing, new deal structuring ideas or brand-new investment opportunities in the EE landscape, this event is for you. This conference is presented by American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Financial Research Associates. This is taking place May 20th - 21st, 2010 at The Standard Club, Chicago, IL.

For more information go to: http://www.aceee.org/conf/10finance/10financeindex.htm or contact

Kathie Eberhard | Business Development Team Lead
Financial Research Associates, LLC
704-341-2439(phone) 704-341-2641(fax)
Email: keberhard@frallc.com

Home Depot grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Home Depot Foundation supports nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating and preserving healthy, affordable homes as the cornerstone of sustainable communities. The foundation's goal is for all families to have the opportunity to live in healthy, efficient homes they can afford over the long-term; to have access to safe, vibrant parks and greenspaces; and to receive the economic, social, and environmental benefits of living in a sustainable community.

Through the Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant program, the foundation administers millions of dollars in grants each year to nonprofit organizations whose missions align with the foundation's interests. To better support its mission, the foundation awards most of its grants by directly soliciting proposals from high-performing nonprofit organizations with the demonstrated ability to create strong partnerships, impact multiple communities, and leverage grant resources. In order to identify potential future nonprofit partners or respond to unique community revitalization opportunities, a limited amount of unsolicited grant funding is set aside to be awarded through a competitive process.

Preference is given to proposals that include community engagement that results in the production, preservation, or financing of housing units for low- to moderate-income families. The most promising proposals incorporate a number of "green" building design practices.

The foundation makes grants only to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities in the United States and to charitable organizations in Canada.

Energy Efficiency Summer Study

ACEEE is proud to announce that Scholarship applications for the Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings are now open and may be submitted online! The Student Scholarship award to the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study will pay for the conference registration fee, housing and meals, and a portion of transportation costs. To be eligible, the applicant must be an undergraduate or graduate student in an accredited college or university whose course work is related to energy/energy efficiency, climate change, environmental science, or a related field of study, and who is considering a career in energy/energy efficiency. The Student Scholarship to Summer Study is supported by ICF International and ACEEE staff.

The Scholarships will be chosen by the ACEEE Scholarship Committee. Please complete the application form below by June 2, 2010.

Students selected as finalists will be asked to send proof of Student Identification or university/college transcripts during the period of June 16-23, 2010. Notification letters about the status of your Scholarship Application will also be sent the week of June 16-23, 2010. The 2010 ACEEE Student Scholarship winners will be notified by July 1, 2010.

Energy Efficiency in Buildings awards

ACEEE is proud to announce that nominations for the Champions of Energy Efficiency in Buildings awards are now open and may be submitted online! The awards will be presented at the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and will recognize leadership and accomplishment in the energy efficiency field. Winners will be selected based on demonstrated excellence in the following categories:

Research and Development (R&D): Excellence in research and development including baseline or background research, as well as R&D of products and practices.

Energy Policy: Excellence in energy policy including writing, educating, promoting, or supporting energy efficiency in energy policy, at the federal, state, or local level.

Implementation and Deployment: Effective design and implementation, including achievement of significant impacts on energy use.

Leadership: Exceptional personal leadership demonstrated in the development, implementation, or growth of important energy efficiency initiatives.

Nominations will be made by peers and the final awards will be chosen by the ACEEE Board of Directors Awards Committee.The 2010 Champions awards will be presented at the 2010 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Pacific Grove, California scheduled for August 15-20, 2010 at the Asilomar Conference Center. The "Buildings" Summer Study is the preeminent energy efficiency conference, and draws leading academics, energy efficiency professionals, government representatives, researchers, advocates for energy efficiency, and policymakers.

Please complete the nomination form below by June 1, 2010. We value your input and appreciate you taking the time to nominate the best leaders in our community. Notification letters about the status of your Award nomination will be sent the week of July 19-23, 2010.

Strengthening Building Retrofit Markets

The Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE's) State Energy Program (SEP), is seeking applications to advance policies, programs, and market strategies that accelerate job creation and reduce energy bills, while achieving energy and climate security for the nation. This competitive announcement allows States to complete for funding designed to meet EERE nationally focused initiatives for the fundamental and permanent transformations of markets across all sectors of our economy. The two Areas of Interest are as follows: Area of Interest 1: Strengthening Building Retrofit Markets - this Area of Interest will assist states in developing approaches for retrofitting buildings in the nation's residential and commercial sectors. Area of Interest 2: Stimulating Energy Efficiency Action - this Area of Interest will assist states in generating the necessary policy and program frameworks to support investment in cost-effective energy efficiency for the long-term.

Expected Number of Awards:	18
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$28,000,000

Full announcement: https://www.fedconnect.net/

School construction bonds

Washington — The U.S. Department of Treasury and the Department of Education today announced $11 billion in allocation authority to issue qualified school construction bonds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Qualified school construction bonds can be used to finance the construction, rehabilitation or repair of a public school facility or for the acquisition of land where a school will be built. The full list of allocations by state can be found here.

Opinion article: Green School Buildings

[From the Commonwealth Foundation] Yesterday the House passed Rep. Drucker's bill to exclude any costs associated with making a school building LEED certified from a possible taxpayer referendum.

Committee staff reported the department said there is a dollar amount threshold for referendums and green building costs can be excluded from that in order to avoid a referendum. Staff said, according to the department, if there is a referendum anyway, all projects will be included in the ballot question, including green construction. (PLS subscription)

With the cost of school construction and debt spending on the rise this bill could have wide implications. As noted in Nate Benefield's testimony on education spending:

Construction and debt spending grew 137% from 1996-97 to 2007-08, compared with 66% growth in instructional spending.

In committee, legislators debated whether green construction is more expensive and Rep. Drucker indicated responded the upfront costs are but the long-term costs are "significantly less". And Rep. Clymer hit the nail on the head when he asked why the exemption is needed if green technology is accepted by the taxpayers.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is a new agency of the Department of Energy. ARPA-E was authorized by the America COMPETES Act (PL 110-69) and charged with the mission to fund projects that will develop transformational technologies that reduce Americas dependence on foreign energy imports; reduce U.S. energy related emissions, including greenhouse gases; improve energy efficiency across all sectors of the U.S. economy; and ensure that the United States maintains its leadership in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies. Initially funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (PL 111-5), ARPA-E aims to support the development of high risk/high payoff applied science and technology innovations that will have a positive disruptive impact on the energy landscape.

Buildings consume 40 percent of the primary energy in the United States, and account for 72 percent of the nation's electricity use and 55 percent of the nation's natural gas use. The objective of this funding opportunity announcement is to develop energy efficient cooling technologies/air conditioners (AC) for buildings to reduce GHG emissions from: (a) primary energy consumption due to space cooling; and (b) refrigerants used vapor compression systems. ARPA-E seeks innovative research and development approaches to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions due to cooling of buildings by: (i) development of cooling systems that use refrigerants with low global warming potential of less than or equal to 1: (ii) development of energy efficient air conditioning (AC) systems for warm and humid climates to increase the coefficient of performance (COP) of ventilation load cooling by greater than or to 50 percent; and (iii) increased efficiency of hot climate vapor compress ion AC systems for re-circulating air loads by increasing the COP by greater than or equal to 50 percent. One or more combination of these technologies can be utilized in buildings, where many factors influence the cooling load, including but not limited to: (1) type of building, such as office space versus hospitals (which have very high ventilation loads - almost 100 fresh air); and (2) climate type - warm and humid versus hot and dry. More information on the grant is available here.

Green communities grants

[Philanthropy News Digest] Created by Enterprise Community Partners in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Green Communities is a five-year, $555 million initiative to build more than 8,500 environmentally healthy homes for low-income families in the United States. The initiative provides grants, financing, tax-credit equity, and technical assistance to developers who meet Green Communities Criteria for affordable housing that promotes health, conserves energy and natural resources, and provides easy access to jobs, schools, and services.

Green Communities is now offering charrette grants of up to $5,000 each for green affordable housing developers who want to convene intense working sessions with the development team and others who share an interest in promoting health and livability.

A Green Communities charrette will involve an intense working session that brings together a diverse group of housing development professionals as well as funders, policy makers, and community stakeholders (where possible) to integrate sustainable green design principles into affordable housing developments. Enterprise will award grants to cover the cost of facilitating a charrette during pre-development and to cover the cost of facilitating a post-construction sustainability training session.

The charrette grant program is open to 501(c)(3) nonprofits, public housing authorities, and tribally designated housing entities; for-profit entities; and for-profit entities participating through joint ventures with qualified organizations.

Visit the Enterprise Web site for complete program information and application materials.

Bank of America Neighborhood Builders grants

[Philanthropy News Digest] The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Neighborhood Excellence Initiative is designed to recognize, nurture, and reward community organizations, local heroes, and student leaders who are helping their neighborhoods achieve excellence. The program makes grants and awards in forty-four U.S. markets and in London, United Kingdom.

The Neighborhood Excellence Initiative is accepting applications/nominations for the following programs:

Neighborhood Builders: Provides $200,000 in core operating support and leadership training over two years to two nonprofit organizations working in each eligible community to promote vibrant neighborhoods. Any 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating in an applicable Bank of America community is eligible for a grant under the foundation's guidelines. (Applicants must be registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales for the London market.) The program seeks organizations whose focus closely reflects local neighborhood priorities. Applicants should demonstrate how they have impacted their community and how grant funding and leadership development opportunities will help their organization further its work in the community.

Local Heroes: Recognizes and honors five heroes per year in each of the selected communities whose achievements and leadership on local issues contribute significantly to neighborhood vitality. Successful nominations will demonstrate how a nominee has made a special and significant impact on individuals, families, or the community at large; inspired others to community service; or been a catalyst for new visions, understanding, and change in a community. Recipients will each be able to direct a $5,000 contribution to an eligible nonprofit. Self-nominations are accepted.

Visit the Bank of America Web site for complete guidelines and list of eligible markets.

Nearly $130 devoted to energy efficieny, workforce issues

The Obama Administration recently announced a multi-agency initiative to spur regional economic growth while making buildings more energy efficient. Seven federal agencies today issued a combined Funding Opportunity Announcement of up to $129.7 million over five years to create a regional research center that will develop new building efficiency technologies and work with local partners to implement the technologies in area buildings. The Department of Labor press release can be viewed here.

The agencies are working together to leverage funding and resources to promote regional growth through an Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) that is centered around an Energy Innovation Hub focused on developing new technologies to improve the design of energy-efficient building systems. This Energy Innovation Hub, one of three proposed by the Administration and funded by Congress in the FY10 budget, will bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers, ideally working under one roof, to conduct research and work to solve priority technology challenges that span work from basic research to engineering development to commercialization readiness.

"The Department of Labor will engage local and regional networks of Workforce Investment Boards and One-Stop Career centers to ensure that workers reap the maximum benefit from this initiative," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "This alignment of federal agency resources will allow us to have an even greater positive impact along the full economic spectrum. It will also help reduce the energy costs of buildings while spurring the creation of new jobs in green and energy efficient industries."

"Regional innovation clusters create jobs and increase our global competitiveness. Through the Energy RIC, the SBA will help entrepreneurs and small business owners take the best research and commercialize it to grow the 'green building' industry into an economic powerhouse that will put people to work, save consumers money and help our environment," said U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills.

Construction and the recession

According to a February 6, 2010 Times report, "Nationally, unemployment fell to 9.7% in January, but in construction it jumped to 24.7% from 18.7% in October. In many regions, union officials report 30% of their members are unemployed or 'riding the bench.'" See the full story here.

Green Cleanup Symposium

PHILADELPHA-- Decision-makers from government, private industry and academia will convene on February 10-11 to discuss the latest developments in green cleanup, reuse technologies and techniques at one of our nation’s first engineering schools, Drexel University.

The Green Cleanup Symposium: Integrating Green Approaches for Site Cleanup and Sustainable Reuse, hosted by Drexel in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will comprise an intensive, two-day series of moderated discussions highlighting topics including:

1. The ABC’s of sustainable reuse;
2. Cleaning up properties while applying green practices;
3. Cutting edge analysis tools for planning long-term cleanups, and
4. Ecological revitalization at contaminated properties.

In addition to meeting with federal, state and local environmental officials, participants will hear first-hand from those in the fields of cleanup, redevelopment, and design about their experiences, both the success stories and lessons-learned, on cleaning and revitalizing former contaminated properties while applying green principles.

Space is still available. Go to
http://www.drexel.edu/academics/coe/cities/greencleanupsymposium.html
to learn more about the wide array of topics being covered, and a list of presenters and organizations being represented.

PA Business of Brownfields conference

Brownfields Conference to be held in Pittsburgh

The 15th annual Business of Brownfields Conference (BoB) will be held in Pittsburgh from April 19-21, 2010.

Sponsored by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania, BoB highlights the technical, legal and financial aspects of brownfields reclamation and development. The annual conference attracts Brownfields professionals from government, consulting firms, law firms, contractors and financers.

The 2010 technical program of the conference will feature the five main actions of brownfields development:

* Public Health/Institutional Controls
* Marketing & Finance
* Working within Legal/Regulatory Framework
* Site Characterization
* Site Remediation

For more information on the conference, visit www.eswp.com/brownfields/index.htm.