Thaindian News

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced the selection of 25 communities that will receive $425 million in Recover Act funds to ramp up energy efficiency building retrofits, the White House informed on Wednesday.

The announcement was made during the start of the five days of events around the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

“For forty years, Earth Day has focused on transforming the way we use energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuel - but this year, because of the historic clean energy investments in the Recovery Act, we’re poised to make greater strides than ever in building a nationwide clean energy economy,” said Vice President Biden.

The Retrofit Ramp-up initiative, managed by the Department of Energy, will organize communities, governments, private sector companies and non-profit organizations into working together on pioneering and innovative programs for concentrated and broad-based retrofits of neighborhoods and towns. These will make energy efficiency accessible to hundreds of thousands of citizens and businesses.

The program is expected to save households and businesses about $100 million per year in utility bills and will create an estimate amount of 30,000 jobs across the nation during the next three years by leveraging private sector resources.

“This investment in some of the most innovative energy-efficiency projects across the country will not only help homeowners and businesses make cost-cutting retrofit improvements, but also create jobs right here in America.”

Austin, Chicago, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Portland, and Seattle are some of the 25 communities which were selected for Retrofit Ramp-Up awards. Such projects are expected to begin in late 2010.