Energy efficiency retrofits

[From Philanthropy News Digest] The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced $2.7 million in grants through a national competition designed to support replicable approaches for increasing the number and depth of energy efficiency retrofits in existing buildings.

Nine organizations were awarded grants ranging from $135,269 to $350,000 to address barriers that prevent building owners, property mangers, leaders, and investors from undertaking and financing retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, including the "split incentive" problem in which tenants rather than landlords benefit from energy-efficiency improvements financed by property owners as well as a lack of capital for upfront costs. To address these and other barriers, recipients will work to develop and test a range of financing models, marketing strategies, and tools for assessing energy use and retrofit options.

Buildings account for roughly 40 percent of the nation's energy use and represent the single largest source of carbon dioxide emissions. Despite the potential for significant energy savings and financial benefits, numerous barriers impede energy efficiency retrofits in both the residential and commercial real estate sectors.

In addition, DDCF recently awarded grants of $600,000 and $550,000 to the Natural Resources Defense Council and New Buildings Institute, respectively, to address barriers to energy-efficiency retrofits in the commercial real estate sector through its Environment program. The recent grants bring the total amount awarded by DDCF in 2010 for improving energy efficiency in buildings to $3.8 million.

For a complete list of Environment Program grants made by the foundation, visit the DDCF Web site.

“Hundreds of Nonprofits Respond to National Competition Soliciting Scalable Ideas for Propelling Energy Efficiency Retrofits of Buildings Across U.S.” Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Press Release 10/25/10.

October 28 Webinar: Green Jobs Training - Funding, Implementing, and Collaborating

Oct 25, 2010

The U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau has held a series of webinars designed for the workforce community, designed to offer information and an exchange of ideas to better connect women with green jobs and green jobs training. This area of workforce development is an important part of preparing our nation to be competitive in the new economy. The teleconferences have been geared towards workforce professionals, career advisors, and educators, although interested women are welcome to participate as well.

The seventh and final teleconference in this series, "Green Jobs Training: Funding, Implementing, and Collaborating" will take place on October 28, 2010, from 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. EDT.

During this concluding teleconference, the speakers will present strategies for partnering and leveraging resources to build capacity and support for green jobs training programs, as well as tips on designing and delivering an effective program. In addition, there will be a review of federal funds invested in promoting green economy growth and green jobs.

Speakers include:

• Sara Manzano-Díaz, Women's Bureau, Director
  
• Tiffany Bluemle, Vermont Works for Women, Executive Director
  
• Teresa Kittridge, Minnesota Renewable Energy Marketplace, Executive Director
  
• Representative of U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
  

Participation is limited, so please register early! Please visit the Women's Bureau website for more information or register here.

SEED Center Update

The American Association of Community Colleges has passed along this update for the workforce community on the Sustainability Education & Economic Development (SEED) initiative and resource center.

The clean energy and green economy present an unprecedented opportunity to boost American prosperity. Billions of dollars stand to be captured by using energy more wisely, drawing on energy sources that never run out, and developing our world more sustainably. Public and private investment, innovative technologies, government action, and consumer behavior are all driving this new economy. As green jobs continue to grow quickly, community colleges will play a critical role in preparing an educated workforce with the skill sets to fuel and meet industry and public demand.

While a number of community colleges have developed innovative green job training programs, many schools need additional support to extend these opportunities to the nearly 12 million community college students nationwide. The SEED Center is designed to provide the information and national coordination needed for advancing program development and implementation.

The SEED Center offers access to resources such as promising practices and curriculum materials in subject areas including renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building, general sustainability, and more.

In the SEED Community, educators exchange information and ideas using a wiki and topical discussion boards. With a simple login, any community college faculty or staff member may use this feature.

As a start, the SEED Center is focusing largely on four key green economy sectors: solar, wind, green building, and energy efficiency. In time, the site plans to build out other areas that are known to be crucial to job growth, such as sustainable agriculture, geothermal, smart grid technology, water and wastewater, and alternative fuels.

Women in Green Jobs Teleconference

DOL's Women's Bureau will host a teleconference focusing on developing green jobs training programs at 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 28, the final in a series of seven teleconferences designed to provide workforce professionals, educators, career advisors and others with ideas on how to better connect women with green jobs. Speakers from the Women's Bureau, Vermont Works for Women, Minnesota Renewable Energy Marketplace and the department's Employment and Training Administration will present strategies on leveraging resources for green jobs training, as well as tips on designing an effective program. In addition, there will be a review of federal funds invested in promoting green economy growth and green jobs.

Learn More About the Teleconference

Science to Achieve Results Fellowships

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is offering Graduate Fellowships for master’s and doctoral level students in environmental fields of study. The deadline is November 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM for receipt of paper applications, and November 5, 2010 at 11:59:59 PM ET for submittal of electronic applications to Grants.gov. Subject to availability of funding, the Agency plans to award approximately 105 new fellowships by June 30, 2011. Master's level students may receive support for a maximum of two years. Doctoral students may be supported for a maximum of three years, usable over a period of five years. The fellowship program provides up to $42,000 per year of support per fellowship.

Fall 2011 EPA Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowships For Graduate Environmental Study

DEP Announces Coastal Zone Management Grants to Protect, Preserve Pennsylvania’s Shorelines

HARRISBURG -- Organizations that work to protect and preserve Pennsylvania’s coastal zones along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary will benefit from $1.4 million in Coastal Zone Management Grants that were announced by Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.

The annual grants, largely funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were awarded to 30 non-profit organizations and governmental agencies in counties that border Pennsylvania’s coastal zones or have a direct impact on water quality in those areas.

The Lake Erie coastal zone is located within Erie County and includes the shorelines of major tributaries. The zone extends to the middle of the lake, to the boundary with Canada and inland 900 feet within the city of Erie.
Since 2003, the Pennsylvania Coastal Resource Management Program has provided more than $8.7 million in funding for coastal zone projects.

Applications for the next round of Coastal Zone Management Grants will be accepted until October 15, 2010. Nonprofit groups, educational institutions, local governments and authorities, and state agencies are eligible to apply.

For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Coastal Zone.

Erie County
• Asbury Woods Nature Center and Millcreek Township School District - $49,347 to conduct the Leadership in Watershed Education program that develops curriculum and projects for middle school children regarding the importance of coastal watershed conservation.
• Audubon Pennsylvania - $46,000 for the third phase of a study that will research coastal habitat significance of migratory song birds in the Lake Erie Coastal Zone, conduct bird banding during migration periods and report findings to key state agencies on critical habitat and bird populations.
• Earth Action - $45,000 to continue and extend the Earth Action program with a focus on preventing pollution from nonpoint sources, urban runoff and pharmaceutical disposal.
• Erie County Conservation District - $25,000 to implement and track the Coastal Non-Point Pollution Program management measures.
• Erie County Department of Planning - $65,000 for Lake Erie Coastal Zone projects coordination and technical assistance.
• Erie County Department of Planning - $9,000 to assist Lake Erie coastal communities in administering the Bluff Recession and Setback Act of 1980. Nine municipalities have been designated as having bluff recession hazard areas and are required to administer bluff setback ordinances.
• Erie County Department of Public Safety - $4,127 to purchase a dedicated equipment trailer to be employed in emergency situations that threaten vital coastal resources.
• Erie Downtown Partnership - $13,500 to continue building and implementing a program intended to help reduce litter and its impacts on the coastal resources of Lake Erie.
• Erie Times-News In Education, Inc. - $34,680 for a recurring Newspaper In Education weekly page focusing on coastal zone environmental issues.
• Erie-Western PA Port Authority - $75,000 to construct a public fishing pier in Presque Isle Bay located in Liberty Park.
• Northwest Tri-County Unit - $13,543 to operate the Regional Summer School of Excellence program titled “Investigating and Researching Environmental Health Problems.”
• Regional Science Consortium - $43,896 to evaluate historical shoal spawning locations along the Lake Erie coastline, as part of an effort to determine if the habitat can sustain lake sturgeon spawning.
• Regional Science Consortium - $49,946 to evaluate research partitioning habitats between non-game native benthic Lake Erie stream fishes to determine whether Round Gobies are causing detrimental effects on native fish habitat.

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.