Governor Martin O’Malley announced that Maryland will receive $20 million in Recovery Act funding to expand energy efficiency building retrofit programs.  The State’s award of  will support the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) plan, “Investment in Main Street: Energy Efficiency for Economic Growth.”  This will target individual households, multifamily rental properties, and commercial properties for energy-efficiency retrofits.

“This initiative also assists small businesses and communities to save money and energy by improving energy efficiency in their workplaces.  More importantly, this will stimulate private investment which will ensure the sustainability of these programs and help expand Maryland’s burgeoning green workforce.”

The  awards are the competitive portion of DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, which was funded under the Recovery Act to help state, local, and tribal communities make strategic investments in improving energy efficiency, reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions.

In addition to the focus on homeowners and rental and commercial properties, Maryland’s plan includes a state-wide bulk purchasing program for supplies and equipment that will lower overall costs.  The initiative also will highlight multi-family and small business retrofits that will result in significant, measurable reductions in energy consumption.

The targeted communities were selected by weighing what would benefit the greatest number of Marylanders, taking into consideration those areas that have not yet received an allocation of EECBG funding.  The selected areas are all in communities where there is significant leveraging and partnership activity.  Each area is a Main Street Maryland community, has numerous multifamily developments and is a target area for other funds through DHCD.

Targeted communities include:

• Berlin (Worcester County)
• Cambridge (Dorchester County)
• Chestertown (Kent County)
• Cumberland (Allegany County)
• Denton (Caroline County)
• Easton (Talbot County)
• Elkton (Cecil County)
• Frostburg (Allegany County)
• Oakland (Garrett  County)
• Princess Anne (Somerset County)
• Dundalk (Baltimore County)
• Westminster (Carroll County)
• Havre de Grace (Harford County)
• Salisbury (Wicomico County)
• Takoma Park (Montgomery County

For more information, please go to www.mdhousing.org