Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer has launched a green initiative that will help Annapolis property owners to easily make energy efficiency improvements to their buildings. The initiative builds on legislation passed by Annapolis in January 2009 enabling its property owners to attach energy improvement loans to their properties. Annapolis is the first City in Maryland to pass such legislation.
The City of Annapolis, in cooperation with Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC), Maryland Energy Administration (MEA), Edison|Wright and Direct Energy will launch the first phase of the program
Annapolis EZ|Energy Zone (Annapolis EZ) in early 2010. The program is designed to help with financing and implementation of energy efficiency for Annapolis residential property owners. Annapolis EZ anticipates improving up to 50 properties in Annapolis during the first phase of the program. It is currently signing up interested participants.
"Many residential property owners would like to improve the energy efficiency of their home," says Mayor Moyer. "However, high upfront cost and other financial hurdles often deter them from getting involved. Annapolis EZ does exactly what the name says � it makes it easy to move forward with projects and see real savings on energy bills."
The program is financed by MCEC with funding made available from stimulus dollars through MEA.
Annapolis EZ makes it possible for Annapolis property owners to finance energy improvements without affecting their credit score, and if they sell their property before the loan is paid off, the next property owner will take over the payments along with the reduced energy bill. The Annapolis EZ program also provides property owners with a list of only pre-approved, certified auditors, installers and contractors.
PACE programs have the potential to unleash over $250 billion of investment into clean energy improvements over the next 10 years, eliminating more than a gigaton of CO2 emissions, saving $1.75 billion in annual electricity costs and creating 400,000 jobs per year.
Source: City of Annapolis
Writer: Walaika Haskins
"Increased education and easy to use programs are the keys to fundamentally changing our energy usage in the State of Maryland and across the United States," says Eric Palm, Vice President of Direct Energy - Annapolis EZ|Energy Zone?s lead energy retrofit provider. "Conducting an energy assessment of their home is the first step for a homeowner to understand what improvements need to be undertaken to reduce their energy usage and positively impact the environment."
Annapolis EZ will use contractors who are participating with the Maryland Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. These contractors have been trained to take a �whole-house? approach that identifies comfort, safety and energy efficiency improvements.