The City & County of Honolulu was awarded nearly $4 million in a new U.S. Department of Energy program, the Energy and Efficiency Conservation Block Grant. The program is part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).
“We’ll be able to use these funds for a number of projects that we already have lined up as part of our continuing commitment to environmental stewardship, reducing our carbon footprint and lowering our energy costs,” says Mayor Mufi Hannemann.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, in which Hannemann was involved, was instrumental in helping to establish the Energy and Efficiency Conservation Block Grant program as part of the federal economic recovery and stimulus package.
“As mayors, we were intimately familiar with the very successful Community Development Block Grant program and were able to convince Washington that the same formula could be equally applied to the field of renewable and sustainable energy projects for the nation’s cities,” Hannemann says.
The following projects were included in the city’s energy department award:
• Neal Blaisdell Center (NBC): $600,000 for exhibition hall air-conditioning system improvements,
• NBC: $200,000 for air-conditioning system improvements in the administration offices and meeting rooms,
• NBC: $400,000 for parking structure lighting retrofits,
• Kalihi-Palama Bus Maintenance facility: $450,000 for lighting retrofits,
• Kalihi-Palama Bus Administration building: $90,000 for lighting retrofits,
• Kalihi-Palama Bus Maintenance facility: $600,000 for photovoltaic system installation,
• Kapolei Hale: $223,700 for lighting retrofits, and
• Pearl City Bus Maintenance facility: $1.3 million for photovoltaic system installation.
“These projects will help retain jobs in these challenging economic times,” Hannemann says. “And when completed, the taxpayers of the City & County of Honolulu will realize tremendous cost and energy savings.”
