Archive for Green Grants
President Obama: Insulation Is Sexy
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New Incentives For Rendering Homes and Commercial Buildings More Energy Efficient.
Ever since my husband and I have been married (25 years) we have bought, retrofitted, improved and sold homes. It was instinctive to improve our first home when I felt the cold air transfer at my window in the first house we bought.
We replaced the doors and windows and instantly enjoyed a much warmer house. After then adding insulation in the floors, walls, basement, and attic, our heating costs lowered by 72%! (There turned out to be NO insulation in the sub-floor in a home in Colorado high country. WHAT?!?!?) We have been buying, retrofitting and selling homes in this way ever since.
Yesterday, President Obama turned his attention to this topic in his talk at Home Depot. Click play beneath the video at the top of the article to watch what President Obama said (12/15/09) about the Recovery Act Funding and retrofitting houses.
Here is a table of what’s been allocated and what’s been spent to date in Government Grants for Energy Efficiency (click here) listed state by state.
Quick Facts:
* $5 Billion for low income home weatherizing in the US: insulation and replacing old heating/air with energy star heat pumps, replacing and sealing doors, windows and insulating walls, floors and roofs.
* Homes built prior to 1950 use 50% more energy than homes built today to achieve the same (heating/cooling) results.
* American homes and offices consume 40% of energy we use and contribute 40% of our carbon pollution.
Now: quick notes for help on retrofitting your homes.
1) There are funds for some Americans right now to weatherize your home. WHICH Americans? The Recovery Act funds each state for this. Each state then decides how to disburse these low income home weatherizing government grants. Click on your state to find contact info on Weatherization Programs in your state. .
Also you can look for government grants through your state in the Girlgrants’ article “Links to TANF in your state” ( go to TANF article). I clicked on Maine in the TANF article, and found out who is eligible.
“Am I Eligible?
You may be eligible to receive Weatherization or CHIP assistance if your total household income falls within 230% of the federal poverty guidelines or 75% of the state area median income, whichever is less. Eligibility for …” (for more go here).
2) There are jobs in this field and the field is quickly expanding. You can become a Certified Weatherization Technician, certified by the US government.. who then feed you customers through their programs that they fund. The people interviewed inthis video tell that they are ambushed with work and have people needing their labor on waiting lists! Imagine having a waiting list of clients in this economy.
Watch video of people who have been trained and are now working as Certified Weatherization Technicians (click here). It’s actually really exciting. Check it out.
$41 Million in Federal Funds Enough To Get Fuel Cell Technology Affordable?
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Combined, $41 Million Federal Government Grant Funds Green Energy Research on Long Island, NY.
You may have seen or heard of fuel cell cars. Rather than using petroleum fuel, the most common fuel cells in cars is hydrogen and oxygen which then create electricity for the car to move. Refueling? When you run out of the fuels you do have to go and replenish the hydrogen and the oxygen. Advantage? No fuel emissions of the sort that are causing climate changes. Problems? Not so easy to set up Hydrogen filling stations (and I think the gas itself is expensive) and 2) pretty expensive so far to manufacture the fuel cell, as well as to keep them stable and safe. For more info on fuel efficiency and costs, see this article and scroll down to the chart , mid- page.
What if one could address the cost?
I test drove one once when I was in LA. I had seen .. oh, who was it? .. Halle Berry
Read More→
Here is the project I am applying for a grant to fund
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I Myspaced President Obama today about the project I am suggesting in a grant proposal, the important parts of which are here below.
To : President Obama
What: A Checklist each household could get/seek to adopt for greening up their impact.
When: May 20, 2009
Dear Sir:
A few weeks ago, I attended an Earth Day speech given by a woman who stands before Congress to deliver vital information on climate change. She made it clear that even if every country kept on doing what they are doing, if the US and 9 other top polluters/consumers of energy/stuff just changed their ways to reduce their impact by 40%, we would bring things into balance.
She then illustrated how in the past four years, Californians have brought down their average per capita consumption levels by 30% over the last few years, and that they still had light and heat and cold beer. This made it clear to me it’s possible. That we really do waste an awful lot of the power and resources. It’s not even being used! Just wasted.
That’s just dumb. Time is now to change that.
She then proceeded to give Denmark as an example of what we could do. Within the span of a year the citizens adopted the programs suggested by the Danish government. Done. The task is accomplished.
When I heard this, it made it clear that it is possible. Not only that, it would bring people together in this country and would increase commerce and possibly create new green jobs we do not yet foresee.
How about creating a ….
Private Foundation Grants $1000 to an Individual for a Night Out at The Theater?
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Yes.
We want the details, and just how we can get $1000 for a night out.
Well, for full details, you must read on.
Litchfield Education Foundation, a private non-profit established in Litchfield , Connecticut, has granted over $90,000 since 2004 and has funded over 40 projects.
$22,000 was granted to Litchfield High School to purchase a functional solar photovoltaic system , install it on the roof of their cafeteria. This saves them about $1000 a year in electricity and the students will be able to analyze the electrical usage info they gather.
They have granted the Litchfield High School Robotics Team, after-school and weekend club activity, $5,500
for these 25 students who need materials for their projects in applied science and math and to enter a robot into the regional competition (it did not entirely meet the costs but covered the majority).
A total of $18,938.78 was granted to supply the K-12 school with 5 Digital Microscopes, 3 Large Network Printers & 3 Smart Boards. The microscopes are used to examine microscopic materials then to capture those images and manipulate the images to enhance the tudent’s understanding of scientific concepts. The Smart Boards are used by teachers to create highly interactive lessons which can be given to the students. The Large Format Network Printers, 24 x 50, can print out images captured on digital microscopes or graphed on Smart Boards.
AHHHH but there’s more: yes, they did grant $1000 for a theater trip. Yes it was to an individual.
WHat?!?
Is this Foundation just treating itself to a night out on the town on the gifts of its donors?
Government Grants Disbursed To Create Jobs
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Out With The Old and In With The New.. Ideas.
5/5/09 By Ines Q Compton
If there is one thing I would suggest to Americans right now it is to repeat the following phrase: Out With The Old and In With The New.
Out With The Old and In With The New.
One more time:
Out With The Old and In With The New.
Out with the old thinking that there is no money for your business, for your dire straits, for your new idea.
L…O…O…K A…G….A..I..N.
WHY? We have a new federal Administration with new funding plans, and an economic stimulus package that went into effect February 17, 2009. What passed for fair just a year ago now is completely different. Pell grants have doubled in number and increased by $500. The amount rural farms can apply for in help with expanding their business has doubled. There are countless examples of increases and improvements in grants, and these are certainly more available than ever before.
So many people who once upon a time looked into grants and gave up ARE NOW realizing these economic stimulus funds are ready and available.
Gov’t Grants Fund Teens to Clean Up The Environment
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… And the teens are doing it themselves.
In a coastal town in Ca, a local college student applied for a government “micro-grant” to involve teens in cleaning up their community and educating the community on where the problem starts and how to avoid fix it.
The end result is an empowerment of the teens, teaching them not to wait for someone else to do what they see as needed. The program teaches resposibility and follow-through. It shows them how to move into action. It helps teens connect in a social environement which would otherwise be frought with gaming services. Now they regularly interact with real live people on a regular basis. It helps them feel the good feeling one gets from serving.
This teen program that got its funding exclusively from a government grant cleans up the streets and beaches in the county. The kids do not get paid. The funds go to taking before and after pics and raising awareness in the community parents/shoppers, and finally on a website the teens designed and maintain, all with the grant funds. Good for the environment , good for the teens, good for the community. Nice!
Go Team! Go Teens! To see what exactly the teens are doing click “Read More.”
IT IS EARTH DAY TODAY: Do You Know which # Earth Day It Is?
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By Ines Q Compton
It is the 39th celebration of Earth Day today. It all started in 1970. In the 60’s and early 70’s, Democrats and Republicans came together and signed into law both the Clean Air Act (1963) and the Clean Water Act (1972), beginning an effort to take care of our environment. Things have back-slided and if you check in, there is much to be done to get our country to function sustainably.
I attended an Earth Day talk given by Susan Joy Hassol, a woman living in Basalt Colorado who stands before Congress translating the science of our current global climate situation into english. Her speech contained many interesting facts. The one I could remember and keep in my awareness was the number 40% to 60%.
This is the percentage by which the 10 biggest CO2-EMITTING AND CARBON-PRODUCING COUNTIRES in the world have to reduce their emissions as soon as possible.
She mentioned a window that is very brief. She demonstrated how California uses 40% less than average households in the U.S. How is that possible? she made the point: they are still heating and cooling their houses, having cool beers, doing all the things we all think we must go without to save that much energy. How are they doing this? Almost entirely through making their power consumption 40% more efficient. And they have.
SO it is possible.WHat and how to do this?
Do You Need To Do a MapQuest Search for Getting Your Government Grant?
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A 7 Step Grant Writing Plan to Go from Begun to Done.
Your 13 week timetable to go from “What am I doing?” to getting your grant submitted.
Too many potential grant winners live in a permanent stand still when it comes to trying to get a grant. Time to stand still is now officially over with this 13 week plan to get you submitted. In GirlGrants’ next article, we will cover tips on quality and do’s and don’ts of the actual writing. For now, start by following this schedule.
