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Wisconsin Energy Efficiency (We2)
Contact: James Irwin, Senior Associate [jirwin at cows.org]
As the world comes to grips with the economic, environmental, and political hazards of conventional energy use, many people have had the same brilliant idea. Waste not! Use less energy by improving the efficiency of its use. One obvious place to begin this is buildings, which account for about 43 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
COWS and the Cities of Milwaukee, Madison, and Racine have pioneered Wisconsin Energy Efficiency (We2), a program that targets residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in the three cities for energy efficiency upgrades.
The potential is great and the model is simple: The program allows building owners and occupants to pay for the cost of improvements as a charge on their municipal services bill, on a schedule that allows them immediate savings. Repayments are calibrated to be less than the savings — leaving more money in homeowners pockets every month, even with significant investments in their building. If a participating building owner or occupant leaves the property before repayment is complete, the remaining obligation can go to the next owner or occupant as he or she benefits from reduced energy costs. The program will create thousands of good jobs — ranging from entry level to highly skilled — and fill them locally.
The Racine Energy Efficiency Program (REEP) launched in April 2010. COWS is currently working with state and local partners toward a summer 2010 launch of the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2) program.
Additional resources include: