EECBG Tribal Webcast Presentation (Text Version)
Below is a text version of the May 18, 2009 EECBG Planning and Strategy Development for Tribal Governments presentation. This presentation focuses on eligible activities planning for Local and State Governments. Speakers were Mike Myers, Molly Lunn, Johanna Zetterberg and Lizana Pierce.
First Slide: Purpose
Speaker:
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Department of Energy, EECBG Tribal webcast. As a reminder, this conference recorded Monday, May 18, 2009. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mike Myers. Please go ahead, sir.
Next Slide: Speakers
Mike Myers:
Thank you very much. Welcome to the US Department of Energy's webinar series on the Energy Efficiency and Block Grant Program. Today is our second webinar in this series. Thank you for joining us today. Today's webinar will focus on project planning and strategy developments for tribal government.
As a participant, you will have the opportunity throughout the presentation to send questions online to the host. Please use the question and answer box in the lower right hand corner of your screen to send in your questions. Please keep your questions brief and to the point. It is our hope, however, to answer many of your questions today. So feel free to submit your questions during the whole presentation. When a question is selected, we will call out your name and ask the question. Again, thank you for joining us today.
For today's webinar, we do have a number of speakers on the line today. From the Department of Energy, we have Molly Lunn, Lizana Pierce, who is joining us from Golden, Colorado, and Johanna Zetterberg from the US Department of Energy headquarters.
Our facilitator today is myself, Michael Myers, with Lockheed Martin, and we may also have George Burmeister from the Colorado Energy Group.
Next Slide: Presentation Overview
Mike Myers:
Our purpose today of this webinar is to provide you an overview of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. We will go over the application process today. But most importantly, we will spend some time going over the eligible activities and examples of potential projects for you.
Most importantly, we will also go over the guidance and give you some direction in terms of filling out the Energy Efficiency Conservation strategy, or the attachment deed. All of this, hopefully, can provide you guidance for a successful program implementation.
Next Slide: Agenda
Mike Myers:
The agenda today is pretty straightforward. We will over the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant overview, the application process, the strategy, time to go over some additional resources, and including our website, and plenty of time for questions and answers.
At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Molly Lunn with the US Department of Energy.
Next Slide: Energy Efficient Block Grants
Molly Lunn:
Thanks, Mike. Today, we're talking about the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. It is a clear presidential priority and gives a lot of — it's a presidential priority. The state, local, and tribal energy program are important and important for our energy's future.
I'm gonna pass it off to Johanna now to give you a little bit of background on our office, the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, and a little background on the program itself.
Johanna.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Thank you, Molly. Before I begin, I just want to ask a housekeeping question of Mike or Scott. It appears that I do have control over the slides. Shall I keep going with that, or do you want to control that?
Mike Myers:
No. We've got it here.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay.
Mike Meyers:
Thank you.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay. On the current slide that you see, this shows a photo of the Department of Energy, Secretary II, and I just want you all to know that we have a lot of support from Secretary II to implement this program successfully as well as from the White House, obviously, since they passed the Recovery Act and we got funding for this program.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Recovery Act Funding Overview
Johanna Zetterberg:
I'm just gonna give you a brief overview of some of the funding that came into our program office, which is the Weatherization and Intergovermenatal Program. We did receive about 70 percent of the Recovery Act funds, which is $11.6 billion. About 70 percent of the funds that went to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the Department of Energy.
Today, we are focusing on the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Program. But we do run two other programs out of this office, the Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program. Under the Recovery Act, we're also administering the Appliance Rebate Program.
Next Slide: Program Purpose
Johanna Zetterberg:
The purpose of the Block Grant Program is to spur economic growth and create or retain jobs. That's under the Recovery Act. The energy purposes of this program are to assist you in implementing strategies to reduce your fossil fuel emissions, to reduce your total energy use, and to improve energy efficiency really across your community.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Objectives
Johanna Zetterberg:
Some of our strategic objectives here in the Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program are to, No. 1, ensure transparency and accountability for use of these funds under the Recovery Act, and also to invest funds to stimulate the economy now while planning to meet the nation's and our community's long-term energy goals. So there's a little bit of a balance here that we need to invest some money quickly to get that economic stimulus benefit. But we also want to invest it wisely so that we get benefits coming back for multiple payback periods beyond the grant period.
We also encourage you to leverage your funds as much as possible with any public or private sources. We do also encourage you to coordinate with each other, with local governments that are near you, with the state that you're in, and any other entity that can help bring more benefits to you.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Funding Opportunity Announcement
Johanna Zetterberg:
What you see now is a picture of the Funding Opportunity Announcement. I hope that, by now, you've all downloaded this either from our program website or from the Connect portal, which is where you'll be submitting your application.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement, also called "FOA," is your best source of information for program guidance and program requirements. So if you have any questions, and I'm sure you have a lot, and we'll get to some of them today, but please do read this document very thoroughly. Be aware that it will be continually updated. In fact, I believe the current version that's out now has been amended three times already. So we will be putting new information into this document, as it becomes available, for you.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Appropriations
Johanna Zetterberg:
This slide shows just a big picture level of the funding that is available under this program. Congress appropriated $3.2 billion for the program. Tribes, as you know, received direct formula grants, $54.8 million, roughly, for that. Tribal governments will also be eligible for competitive grants under the program. There will be a separate Funding Opportunity Announcement available soon for those competitive grants. So I'm not gonna go into too much detail on that now. We haven't released public information on those grants yet, but you will get a lot of details soon when that FOA is released. Tribes will be eligible for around $455 million in competitive grants.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Tribal Eligibility
Johanna Zetterberg:
At this point, I'm gonna turn the presenting back over to Molly, I believe.
Molly Lunn:
That's right. Thanks, Johanna. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program was authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. From that statute, as defined in the language, tribes are eligible if they — the term "Indian Tribe" has the meaning given the term in Section IV of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.
Essentially, that means that the tribal allocation, the more than 54 million for a direct formula grant, will be distributed among the 562 federally recognized tribes listed in the 2008 federal register notice and the 12 Alaskan native regional corporations.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Formula Inputs
Molly Lunn:
The formula for tribal governments is based on two weighted factors. It's 75 percent tribal population and 25 percent based on the climatic conditions in each tribe's state. Those climatic conditions are derived from heating and cooling degree data. That data was provided by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
Tribal population data was provided by HUD. It's based on the 2000 census updated from 2007 and adjusted by birth and death rates provided by the Indian Health Service.
This formula is used to determine the allocations to each of the 574 eligible Indian tribes and regional corporations. A full explanation of the methodology and a list of the allocations are available on our website. You'll see the URL here and many times throughout the presentation. That's www.eecbg.energy.gov. And just a little visual at the bottom there of what the formula looks like.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Uses of Funds
Molly Lunn:
The primary purpose of the program is really for you to use your funds for energy efficiency and energy conservation. We want you to use your funds community-wide, not just — it doesn't just have to be used on governmental buildings or facilities. You can use them residentially or commercially if you'd like. You don't just have to do capital projects. Certainly, you're allowed to, but we really encourage you to do programs which will last past the funding period.
We ask that you prioritize activities that'll pay dividends year after year. Those kinds of projects and programs, which one implemented, will continue to provide payback in energy savings and dollars saved as well.
It's important to remember as you're determining which uses of funds you'd like to do, that the funds have to be obligated within 18 months and then expended within 36.
So below, you'll see a complete list of the eligible use of funds. We're going to go into a little more detail on those later.
But now, I'd like to go to the next slide and Lizana Pierce will talk a little bit about the application process.
Next Slide: Applications Accepted Now
Lizana Pierce:
Thanks, Molly. Hello. We'd like you to know that applications are currently being accepted, but they must be received by June 25 and uploaded electronically to FedConnect. In order to do so, you must register to receive those funds by downloading the application package from grants.gov, completing the registration slip and downloading the Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Might want to say that currently the applications are being accepted electronically only through FedConnect. But if you do have difficulties and/or are unable to submit it electronically, please contact myself or Molly or email the NETL mailbox.
In order to apply, you must complete three steps. The first one is two obtain Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal number, a Dun's number, as we call it. Register in the Central Contracting Registration, CCR, and register in FedConnect. I would urge you to do so.
You must be registered in FedConnect to submit your application, but also to receive amendments to the Funding Opportunity Announcement as well as to pose any questions regarding it. It may take up to 21 days, so please do so if you're interested. You must apply in order to receive those allocation funds.
The application package can be obtained through grants.gov by searching on the CFDA number, which is 81.128. That package includes a series of forms, one of them being the financial assistance form, the disclosure of lobby form, and project performance site.
In addition, that package, that form, has those forms embedded. That is also the place that you will attach the additional elements of the application package, those that are provided has attachments to the Funding Opportunity Announcement, but also those that are generated and it'll combine into one file that needs to be uploaded to FedConnect. So you need to download that application package to your computer, complete the embedded forms, attach the required elements, which I believe are on Page 21 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement. It gives you a table of the required elements to complete that and then upload it into FedConnect.
A couple sort of tribal-unique considerations is that every application will require a tribal council resolution or other evidences of the applicant's authority and eligibility to submit an application.
We have allowed a group of eligible Indian tribes, if they choose, to submit a single application provided tribal council resolution is obtained and included from every participating tribe and the one tribe submits on behalf of the group.
Further, an organization, or sub-element, of a tribe may submit an application on behalf of the tribe or group of tribes, again, provided the tribal council resolution is included and provided with the application and that those resolutions authorize that organization to apply for, receive funds, and administer the grant on behalf of the tribe or tribes.
We will accept only one application per eligible entity. Again, the Funding Opportunity Announcement does have complete details and any other consideration that you may need to consider.
So we would — next slide.
Next Slide:
Lizana Pierce:
We would urge you to register and apply to receive funds now, to, again, read the Funding Opportunity Announcement and ensure that you're aware of all the various constraints and elements of an application package and participate in the next webinar, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20.
Next, I'd like to pass it off to Johanna, who will give you a little more detail on the various eligible activities that you may submit for.
Johanna.
Next Slide:
Johanna Zetterberg:
Thank you, Lizana. Before I move on, I just — I'm seeing the questions that are coming in from you all in the audience. I want to let you know that the slides from this presentation will be available on our website after the presentation. I know that we're moving very quickly here and it's hard to write everything down. So those will be available. I'll give you that website address, so please get a pen right now. It is http://www.eecbg.energy.gov, as in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. That's eecbg.energy.gov. That's the best place to go for lots of program information. That is our program home page, so please bookmark that.
Additionally, I want to just mention again that the Funding Opportunity Announcement contains detailed information about everything that we are going through here today at a summary level.
Okay. I'm gonna move on now.
Let's talk about some of the eligible uses of your funds and what you might do with them.
One thing you can do is do some strategic planning in terms of energy consumption and energy use in your community.
I know that there's some confusion about how this relates to the strategy that you're required to submit as part of your application.
For tribal governments, you'll need to submit Attachment D of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, which is a strategy form. We'll go into a little bit more detail on this later in the presentation. So at a minimum, that is required.
But on top of that, you can still use some of your funds to create a strategy or a plan, or whatever you want to call it, just to do strategic planning for energy use in your community.
Okay. Next slide please.
Next Slide: Doing Business with the Federal Government
Johanna Zetterberg:
You can also hire technical consultants to help you develop your strategy and implement your strategy. There is no cap on this use of your funds, so you could spend, if you wanted to, your entire allocation to hire a technical consultant to help you develop and implement your strategy.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities
Johanna Zetterberg:
One of the most effective things you can do with your funds are to do building energy audits and then, of course, follow those up with the installations of the energy measures that are identified in the audit that will actually help you save energy and money.
You can do this community-wide. You could choose different parts of your community to apply this to. You can use any tool that's out there that you like for doing this.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Johanna Zetterberg:
Another very high impact activity is the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency and conservation. For example, you can create a revolving loan fund. Right now, there is a cap on that, which is 20 percent of your funds or $250,000.00, whichever is greatest. You could use your funds to buy down interest rate for loans. You could aggregate programs or projects. You can work with a local utility to provide ______ financing to community members. You can also use energy savings performance contracts where an energy service company will make upgrades that you then pay for through the energy savings on your energy bill.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Johanna Zetterberg:
Energy efficiency retrofits, as I mentioned earlier, go hand and hand with the energy audit. This is the step that will actually make the improvements to the building to actually help you save that energy and save that money.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Johanna Zetterberg:
This is a Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program for Buildings and Facilities. This is a very broad use of the funds. Buildings and facilities here does not just mean tribal owned buildings and facilities. It can be any buildings or facilities within your community including schools or residential buildings, etcetera.
Once again, it's very broad just as Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program. So you can feel free to dream up whatever program will work best for you. We have some examples here, on this slide, initiating a neighborhood green energy efficiency retrofit program for residential and business buildings, maybe providing some free energy efficiency retrofits to certain segments of the population, perhaps establishing some high performance building practices for your building, etcetera. So it's very vague here. It's vague on purpose so that you can create something that works best for you.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Johanna Zetterberg:
You can also develop and implement transportation programs in your community. Here, you see a picture of some Toyota, some hybrid vehicles, that the Mohegan Tribe has in their fleet. Once again, this is a very broad funding area, really designed for you to create something that works best for you.
Some of the particular examples that we have in the Funding Opportunity Announcement are creating employee flextime programs and satellite work centers for employees, developing zoning guidelines that promote energy efficient development on tribal land, creating regional transit-oriented development, establishing alternative fuel policies and purchasing alternative fuel vehicles, developing infrastructure such as bike lanes and walkways, and creating the incentive programs to reduce commute.
At this point, I am going to pass it back over to Mike.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
Thank you, Johanna.
Again, thank you. We're gonna continue walking through these eligible activities and just want to do a reminder again that many of you are already doing this and, again, feel free to submit your questions. Again, that's through that question and answer box on the right hand or the bottom right hand corner of your screen. Feel free to submit a question. We'll be looking at those. Again, we're gonna be trying to answer as many of your questions at the end of these presentation.
The No. 8 item, which deals with building codes and inspections, is obviously a very great one to do. This is something that you can look for ways to have long-term energy savings, long-term benefits, because, again, you're changing the code for the existing building. Again, this could be for residential. It could be for commercial, business operations as well.
Advanced building codes are a great way to, again, to show long-term energy savings. The Department Energy has lots of information available also on those code issues and building practices. You can also take a look at green building practices in a variety of sustainable design activities. That would also apply under this particular scenario.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
The next one is the — No. 9 is the energy distribution technology of areas. There are — this really can include a variety of technologies including combined heat and power, or CHP, as it goes by, ______ heating or ______ cooling systems. The other one is co-generation systems. CHP technology, as you may know, utilize both electricity and heat produced from a single source. These systems can recover heat that normally would be wasted from, or would be wasted, in a electricity generator, but is used instead for other power such as steam or hot water or space heating.
These systems don't have to be large. They can be small. Again, they can be a numerous small-standing alone systems as well.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
______ the Material Conservation Program, again, energy can be saved through these programs that reduce ways, look ways to minimize the material use. There are energy savings involved here, recycling, working with businesses, working with homeowners not just recycling, but recovering measures, ways to look at ways to reduce the construction and operation of materials.
Again, it's also important to recognize here that some of these project activities can work very well hand and hand with some of the other project activities. So material conservation, recycling reduction, can work very well with advanced building codes or can work very well with retrofits as well.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
The next one is really dealing with the reduction and capture of methane and greenhouse gases generated by landfills or other resources. Pretty straightforward here in terms of you may want to have a project or you may have a project dealing with landfill gas recovery. This can fund that project. It can help fund engineering that you may need to have, the designs, the aspects for it, the equipment that you may need for a landfill gas recovery system. You may also take these funds and use them as ways to combine — look for innovation between combining energy that's produced perhaps from a landfill gas recovery system with a water and wastewater treatment facility.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
Traffic signals and street lighting is the next category. This is really dealing with replacement or installing lights, ______, or LED, or light-emitting diodes, or other technology ______ equal savings. This can be equal replacement of traffic signals, including pedestrian signs as well. It can also be used to implement traffic light synchronization.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
The 13th item is very important. This is dealing with the development or implementation of onsite renewable energy on government buildings. So I want to make it clear. This is dealing with on-government buildings. There is additional funding allocation from the Department of Energy that deals with renewable energy.
But this one, this particular project activity, is dealing with those type of renewable energy systems that are on the government building. They can be TV solar-type systems, fuel cells, wind power, generators, they would want as part of a particular building.
You can do different things in terms of with that power, with those particular buildings. It can be on the roof. It can be on the side. It could be next to that building. As long as that particular power is providing that renewable resource back to that particular building.
It's also important to note that this works in tandem, again, with energy efficiency in some of the other project activity. By putting on renewable energy on the system, you want that building to be energy efficient at the same time.
Next Slide: Eligible Activities (continued)
Mike Myers:
Our last activity is our 14th and last activity. That is — you'll note that it says, "Other appropriate activities that has approved." This is when you can — the Department of Energy is looking for good ideas about reducing energy efficiency. So if you have a good strategy, if it's innovative, you can account for it, you can track metrics, you can defend it, you can show that it has definite energy savings, definitely propose it and defend that solution as we move forth.
Next Slide: Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy
Mike Myers:
That is a quick review of the project eligible activities. Johanna mentioned this earlier as well. We want to talk a little bit about Attachment D. That is the Energy Efficiency and Conversation strategy.
I noticed a number of you have submitted some questions already dealing with this particular strategy. We did talk a little bit about it earlier in this presentation.
Let's go over a few things about this strategy.
First of all, it's required that it's submitted as part of the application. But if you are looking to develop a strategy, then, again, you have up to 120 days to submit it. There's been some questions, "Well, what happens? Can I do an Attachment D but still work on perhaps an existing strategy that we have?" Many of you already have some ideas in terms of energy efficiency. You may already have a plan in effect dealing with energy and efficiency or sustainable development activities. The answer is yes. You can submit your Attachment D and still get to submit the project activity, the eligible activity, dealing with a strategy and expand on your current strategy that you may have.
Mike Myers:
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy document in Attachment D has a few questions that you do need to respond to and answer.
The first one is what is your proposed Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy? This is very important. What this is talking about is what is your strategy, not so much what your community-wide strategy is. So we do want to know about it.
But it's really focusing on what is the strategy, what are your goals and your objectives as they relate typically to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant eligible activities, so just those activities that we just — Johanna and I just mentioned. Under Question 1, you would want to say, "Under this project, for example, we are creating a capital improvement or weatherization or retrofit program that aligns with eligible activity, energy efficiency retrofits." So under this particular Question 1, you want to highlight and align yourself that strategy with the eligible activities that you plan to do. Again, you can have more than one.
Under Question 2, it asks, "What is your proposed implementation plan?" Under this section, you want to take those particular eligible activities that you are proposing to the Department of Energy to do. You want to identify those activities and you want to describe briefly how do you plan to implement those particular plans. Again, you can have an example here, for instance, that says, "Under this eligible activity, energy efficiency retrofits, we are gonna do this activity with this energy service company. We're gonna do this audit and it's gonna part of our county's implementation plan. We will use the funds in this manner." Be very explicit. Be straightforward. Be on point.
Question 3 is how you're working with adjacent units of local governments. This is optional for tribes. It is not required.
Next Slide: Options for Submitting EE&C Strategy
Mike Myers:
The next question is Question 4. That is also optional for tribes. But I do want to mention again is how we share this information with your state. Feel free to answer this. But again, I do want make it clear that this is optional for tribal government.
Under Question 5, the question is describe how the project sustains benefits beyond the Recovery Act period. This is a very important question. We want to know what actions are you taking. Again, what actions are you taking under those eligible activities that you can explain and say, "This is the impact beyond the two-year or three-year time period." If you're installing energy efficient measures, what type of measures and what's the long-term impact of those particular measures.
If you're installing or revolving loan fund, then you have an opportunity to say, "There is revolving loan fund that will have funds coming back into it over a greater time period." Again, in this example, it says — it talks about various energy reductions and cost savings that will result from the specific energy actions that were taking place.
Question 6 is how will you ensure transparency and accountability. You've heard all the speakers today talk about transparency. You've heard about accountability. It's important to have metrics. It's extremely important to make sure that you take steps to prevent fraud, to prevent waste and error and abuse.
Under this particular question is this is the opportunity for you to be able to tell the Department of Energy what you plan to do to be sure that transparency and accountability. What are the metrics that you're gonna do? What are the processes you're gonna have? Is there an internal review process that you'll have? What is the checks and balances that you may have between various groups and organizations or between a sub-grant and your particular fund? How will the funds be tracked and used and allocated for and managed? You want to be able to — under this particular question, ______ your accountability activity.
Next Slide: B-1 Attachment
Mike Myers:
The next slide talks about the B-1 Attachment form with this project activity sheet. There is one sheet, or you submit one form, one sheet, for each of the project activities that you plan to propose to the Department of Energy.
You would do one if you were gonna submit something. Under energy efficiency retrofits, you would submit a form. If you were gonna do one under transportation, you would do a second form. But it is only one sheet, one page, to submit. Keep your responses brief, but definitely to the point, and make the complete.
The form does talk about various information in terms of metrics. Again, these are for estimates only. The Department of Energy can provide some additional guidance. But it is important under this section, again. In this area, talk about your metrics. Talk about what you may do, what are you specific actions that you would do under this particular project activity dealing with what you will be doing over the next — in terms of how you're gonna allocate those funds.
Second, what are some of the metrics or accountability that you will have.
At this particular time, I'm gonna turn it back over to Johanna.
Johanna.
Next Slide: Stage Disbursement of Funds
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay. I'm here. Sorry about that. Okay. Thank you very much, Mike. I hope all of that was helpful to you all on the line in terms of understanding the strategy and activity sheet forms that are really the meat of your application and really the fun part of what we're doing here.
I'm gonna transition now and tell you a little bit about some considerations that you should keep in mind as you are going through that planning process right now to develop your strategies.
One is that there is a staged disbursement of funds. You can see the table here shows that for various award ranges, you will get an amount obligated to you in various ways. So from $0 to $250,000.00, 100 percent of you allocation will be dispersed at the time of award. You can submit your strategy using Attachment D at the time of the application, but you don't have to. You have a second option, which is to submit your strategy within 120 days of the effective date of your award. That's really so that if you need some time to plan and need to use some of your funds to plan, you could do that.
In the award range of 250,000 to 2 million, you would be able to receive up 250,000 for development of your strategy and for activities that are approved that you submit to us.
So once again, you have an option of when to submit your strategy either at the time of the application using Attachment D or within 120 days of the effective date of your award. I should mention that if you decide to submit it within 120 days of the effective date of the award, you will need to cover, at a minimum, all of those questions that are in Attachment D. Then the balance of your allocation would be obligated to you after DOE approves you strategy.
I think there are only a couple of tribes that are receiving over $2 million. If that is the case, then you would receive up to 250,000 at the time of the award, again, for development of the strategies and approved activities, or 50 percent of the total allocation if you do submit an approved strategy at that time.
Then the balance of the funds would be obligated following some progress reviews after we make sure that you are demonstrating that you are obligating the funds appropriately, etcetera.
There's more detailed information on this, once again, in the Funding Opportunity Announcement. So please go there for more information.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Limitations on the Use of Funds
Johanna Zetterberg:
There are some limitations on the use of your funds. So that is something to keep in mind as you're developing your strategies. One is that there is a cap or a limit on the administrative costs. This does not include the cost of reporting. That cap is 10 percent or $75,000.00, whichever is greater. There's also a cap on revolving loan funds, as I mentioned earlier. That is 20 percent or $250,000.00, whichever is greater.
Then finally, there is a cap on sub-grants to non-governmental organizations for assistance in the implementation of the strategy. That is 20 percent or 250,000, whichever is greater.
This cap does not apply to the technical consulting services eligible use of funds if you choose to use some of your funds to have some experts come in and help you develop and implement your strategy. That is not — that would not be a sub-grant here under this cap.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: National Environmental Policy Act
Johanna Zetterberg:
Finally, all of this entire program is subject to NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. You're probably all familiar with this act. It requires all federal agencies to base their decisions on environmental information. Depending on the activities that you choose to pursue, you will either need a full environmental assessment under NEPA or you might not. You might qualify for a categorical exclusion. There is a very detailed table on Page 18 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement which shows you which program activities are likely to need a NEPA review or a NEPA environmental assessment or impact statement and which activities are not likely to need that.
So please look this over carefully. If you choose to pursue an activity which will need an environmental assessment under NEPA, it could delay your award process and your ability to obligate and expend your funds within the required time.
I saw a question came earlier what does obligate and expend mean? Obligate means that the funds are committed and are under contract. So you would have to obligate all of your funds within 18 months of when you get them. Then expend just means spend. So you also have to spend your funds within 36 months of when you get them.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Start Now
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay. I'm gonna hand it back over to — is it Molly or Mike?
Yes, it is.
Molly Lunn:
Thanks, Johanna. Well, now that we've had a great introduction to the program and some guidance on what activities you all can be thinking about and how you can be developing your strategies, we want you to start now. We want you to start planning and developing your strategy. That June 25th deadline is fastly approaching. So the sooner you get out there and start doing this, the better.
We encourage you to meet with your local stakeholders, talk to community members, talk to various organizations in your tribe, to see — see what people's thoughts are. Get some input so that you have a program designed that will really benefit the community as a whole.
Look for opportunities to leverage funds. This is really important.
The Recovery Act provides several strings of funding for tribes that would be compatible with the purposes of this program. So we really encourage you to look at your other sources of funding to make the dollars that we're providing go even further, federal dollars, state dollars, private funding, what have you.
Coordinate with grantees. The tribes are not required to do this. But we really do encourage you to coordinate with one another as well as to coordinate with other eligible entities, including your cities, your counties, and your state. But in particular with one another, as Lizana mentioned earlier, there's an option to apply as a group. This may provide some efficiencies in administrative costs and so on.
Then determine the message to monitor and manage your funds to ensure accountability is an essential part of the program. It's important to start doing this up front. Reporting is gonna start very soon after the awards are funded — awarded.
So then finally, an evaluate your options. I'm sure many of you take the fact that you'll have more projects than you'll be able to fund. So think hard about what will ensure a successful project, what's really gonna make the most difference in your community, and, of course, will these programs and projects create jobs.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Bookmark Program Site
Molly Lunn:
We also encourage you to bookmark the lovely program website. Again, Johanna gave you the address, but I'll just give it to folks one more time. It's www.eecbg.energy.gov, like Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, .energy.gov. This is a great site. We encourage you to go here every day. You can download relevant publications such as he Funding Opportunity Announcement and application instructions. You can take a look at the allocation tables if you haven't done so already.
Also, we have a recently updated list of frequently asked questions, which is very thorough and we'll continue to be updating those on a regular basis. Then all of our program announcements and news are on this site. We recently changed a program deadline for the states and that's up on the front page of this site.
So is anything going to be here. You'll find out about it at this site.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: For More Information
Molly Lunn:
For more information, you can also check out several additional sites. Our solution center, which you can get to from our program page, is where we really have the bulk of our technical assistance resources. That's a new resource for folks and it was — it has a wealth of information there for you to explore. I'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute.
Then there are several other sites, our Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program site. Then the Department of Energy Recovery Act site and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Recovery Act site. These are all great places for you to look to see what else — what other funding opportunities there might be for you and just to get an idea of other projects that are going on right now.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: New Resources for Grantees
Molly Lunn:
So a little bit about our new research. As I alluded to, we have this new solution center, which is — it's really a wonderful resource for all of you. That's where our webinars housed. This is the second in a series of webinars that will be — that we're planning to host for the next several months. Lizana mentioned on Wednesday there will be a webinar dedicated solely to the application process.
So we realize that some of the requirements for the application process are a little taxing and this will be a great one. We'll have folks from the field, the field offices, in NETL and Golden, and who could really walk you through, step by step, what you'll need to do.
There will also be several more planning and strategies development sessions. So if you'd like to get this again, you should check for those dates. You can register online as you did for this webinar. On the Solution Center, as I mentioned, has the webinars, but it also has a host of best practices and tools for each of the eligible activities.
Then one thing that I noticed we've gotten questions on already, the sample strategies, the sample materials for you to — they're models. They aren't that you have use them exactly. But they'll give you some insight into what it is we're looking for, what level of detail we're looking for, and hopefully give you some thoughts on what you might plan to do. Those are at the Solution Center.
Then finally coming soon we'll be providing technical assistance from our energy labs across the country. Then there will be the announcement of the competitive grants funding opportunity announcement. Both of those will be coming in the next few months. So again, stay tuned to the home page, the program website, and you'll find out more about those there.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Questions?
Molly Lunn:
So if you have any questions, we're gonna get to, hopefully, as many as we can of the questions that have been submitted today. But there are two other ways to get your questions answered beyond today. You can send in a question to our email at eecbg@netl.doe.gov or you can contact our information center. You can submit questions online there as well as there's a toll free number to call. These are both good ways to get your questions heard. As I mentioned, we have a fairly substantial list of frequently asked questions on the site now and we will continue to be updating those based on the questions we receive.
Next slide please.
Next Slide: Thank you!
Molly Lunn:
So I want to thank you all for participating today. We're really excited about this program here at the department. We hope that you all are as well. I'd like to thank all of the participants on the call today, Lizana and Johanna and Mike, I think this has really been a great start to our webinar.
Now, I'd like to transition into some of the real great questions we've gotten from you all.
So the very first question we have is from Kate Brown. She asks, "Are tribal buildings, such as community buildings, considered government buildings?"
I assume this is generally for the eligible activities, but specifically most likely for the renewable technology question.
Johanna, would you like to answer that for Kate?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Sure. Kate, the answer is that government owned buildings are considered government buildings. So I'm not sure in your case if the specific buildings you mentioned are government owned, but I'll let you make that determination and hope that answers your question.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. We have a question now from Mark Yelling. "Can street lighting efficiency upgrades be funded for utility company owned street lighting systems to illuminate municipal streets?"
That's a great question. Johanna, would you like to take that one?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Let me just say right off the bat here that I can't, or we can't, preapprove any strategies right now or activities. But what we can do is try to just give you the best guidance that we can right now as to what would likely be approved or not approved as part of your strategy. I don't see any reason why utility owned lighting fixtures would not fall under the eligible activity of the lighting upgrades. So I think that would be probably fine.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. Before we go on to some of the more topic specific questions, I did just want to remind everyone that, yes, this presentation and the materials, the PowerPoint, will be posted on the website. We've recorded this session today. So that will be up as well as the materials from the state call that happened last week and the local government call. This will all be available on our website, hopefully, within the next few days. So you can look for those materials.
Okay.
A question from Melissa Lewis. "Are the Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategies supposed to be comprehensive and community-wide? ______ understand that. However, if a tribe's funding is ______ to $100,000.00, and the EECS focus on people who are in need in the community."
Johanna, do you want to take that? I think the question is given ______, does it have to be all inclusive for the community?
Johanna Zetterberg:
You know, really what we meant by that is that you're not limited to just tribal owned buildings or facilities in your community and that we really encourage you to use them throughout the community. I'm really glad that you brought this question up ‘cause I want to mention something about the strategy that you'll be submitting.
When you report to us how you're gonna use the funds in the strategy, we really are looking for how you're going to spend these program funds. You may have other strategies or plans or energy goals that are outside of the scope of this program. You can certainly reference those, but we actually don't want you to include those in your strategy. We just want to know what your strategy is for using these block grant funds.
So anyway, back to the question about whether the funds should be reported community-wide in the strategy. No, we don't want to know. We only want to know how you're spending these block grant funds. You can invest in them throughout your community, not just in your tribal owned buildings and facilities and areas.
I hope that answers the question.
Molly Lunn:
I think that's a great answer, Johanna. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Scott Moore. He asks — ______. I assume he also is referring to the department as a whole. "______ challenges of time and governmental reaction and consensus on many Indian reservations. Is this particularly true of the tribe we are speaking of? It's not always a straightforward path. The outside help is critical."
I'll take that one.
Yes. We are aware that this is a fairly tight deadline as a part of the Recovery Act. We're required to get the funds out to you all as soon as possible to start stimulating the economy and creating jobs.
We realize this poses difficulties for some tribes. If you have difficulties, please get in touch with us. We want you to use these funds. We don't want them to go unapplied for. So please, if you have any questions regarding the application process, regarding the need for a tribal council resolution, please contact us either through, as I mentioned before, through our email account is probably the best way. You can also submit questions on the FedConnect or contact us directly.
The next question is from Sandra, Sandra Campbell. "May 20th date was mentioned for another webinar. Did I hear this correctly?"
Yes. That is true. We will be having another webinar this Wednesday, May 20. That will be on the application process as a whole. It will be very detailed, a step-by-step walkthrough of what all is required of the application process and how you could access all that material.
The next question comes from Brian Hoover. The question is "Is there any restriction of using the funds for energy improvements on casinos or other gaming facilities?"
Lizana, I'm gonna take that one. I'm gonna let you answer that one.
Lizana Pierce:
There are restrictions per the Recovery Act that the funds cannot be used on casinos and/or swimming pools. The main page of — the second page of the FOA, right after the cover sheet, gives you a whole list of exclusions.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thank you. The next question comes from Brian Hoover. The question is "______ specifically ______ for heat ______ technology ______ qualify as a renewable energy for government buildings?"
Johanna, do you want to take that one?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, it would. Yes, it would. You could do a geothermal heat pump in or on your government building. That would be fine. Molly, I see a somewhat related question. I'm just gonna read that and go ahead and answer it. This is from Rhonda Bucher.
"We are going to install a geothermal HVAC system in a community facility and install foam installation in an upcoming housing project. Both seem to fit under Eligible Activity No. 6. NEPA requirements for activity — NEPA requirements for Activity No. 6 is no action. Is this correct?"
First of all, I just want to point out that the table you see in the Funding Opportunity Announcement relating the eligible activities to the NEPA level of review necessary, those are likely. Those are not definitely this activity will need a review. This activity will not need a review. That's meant to be a guide to help you in your planning timelines, and otherwise, about which activities will likely need what level of NEPA review.
Next, getting to the specific question here, a geothermal technology would be — yes. That would be eligible. Okay. Sorry. I thought I misread that question.
Okay. Next question. Go ahead. Thanks.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. Okay. Great. The next question is from Julianne Urston, Urston. Sorry. I might have mispronounced that name. But the question is "Do you have specific references that provide the metric equation?" That's a great question. Metrics for jobs. There are requirements for CO2, energy reduction, etcetera.
Johanna, I'm again gonna throw that one to you. What's the situation on metrics?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Sure. We are gonna be providing some further guidance on how to calculate these types of benefits. In fact, the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, is gonna be providing some guidance to us to be able to provide some guidance to you.
At this point, as you're doing your planning, please just use whatever methods you have been using in the past for those that make sense to you now. We'll be providing guidance on that soon.
But keep in mind that these are estimates only and they're also the answers that you would provide. It would be very unlikely that you would get — that you would not get your funding because of them. In other words, you do not — there is no threshold, for example, for the number of jobs you anticipate creating that would determine whether or not you get your funding allocation.
So please just estimate as best as you can. We'll be providing guidance on how to do these calculations soon. Don't worry that you wouldn't get your funds because of any particular numbers that you would put down.
Now that being said, the whole point of the Block Grant Program and of the Recovery Act is to create more jobs, retain more jobs, create economic stimulus, and save energy and save money from saving energy, save CO2 emissions, etcetera. So do the best you can, but know that you won't be turned down because of any particular number that would put there.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. Thank you, Johanna.
Our next question comes from Scott Moore. He asks about "If the council and subcommittees don't need ______ pass the resolution, but intend to do so, or a copy of the subcommittee approved resolution, be okay until the council passes it?"
This is really good question. It brings up the issue of the tribal council resolutions. What I would say is please get in touch with them. Have your specific tribe be in touch with their office. We really want to make, as I said before, make awards possible. So tribal council resolution or equivalent must be submitted. We want to work with you. So please be in touch with our office and we will work with individuals to try to make the award possible, as I said before.
On a related note, we have a question from Jesus Prasad. "______ government, can a group of municipalities be brought together by a joint action agency ______ state laws or ______ negotiations, etcetera, to act on behalf of municipalities, ______ local government?
Jesus, again, this sounds like something that would be possible if tribal council resolutions were available. I have gotten the question of if there are tribal councils, existing tribal council resolutions, that give authority for certain activities to a joint action agency or something similar, will those be allowed. We haven't made a determination on that yet. What we need is to have a general council look at your existing council resolution and work with the tribes individually.
So again, if you have any questions about the tribal council resolution requirement, I do encourage you to get in touch with the office.
Mike, do you have a question?
Mike Myers:
This is Mike again. Just a couple of things. Just to remind everybody again. We have some time still in this webinar presentation. Again, continue to feel free to submit questions. Again, you can submit those questions in your lower right hand box on your screen. We are looking at those questions. Some of the questions are similar, but we are trying to pull examples as we move forward and have individuals from the Department of Energy respond to those questions here.
One of the questions that we received from a list of, oh — it was a question about the B-1 Attachment, the B-1 Attachment forms, and would samples forms be posted on the website similar to the model strategies. I'll turn that over to Johanna.
Johanna Zetterberg:
That's a great question. Yes, we will make those available. They're actually under development right now. We are finalizing those and hope to post them very soon for you. They will be posted on our website.
Mike Myers:
Thank you, Johanna.
I have another question dealing with — similar to, again, on the Energy Efficiency strategy and Attachment D. This is from Kevin.
The question is "Can a tribe submit a proposal that identifies — to develop the strategic ______ and develop under the activity, if I have it right, under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation activity and then use the remaining dollars later for identified projects based on the fact that you identified it under that efficiency strategy?"
I believe that you're probably also looking here that you may not have submitted an Attachment D. Again, you have up to 120 days to submit your Attachment D.
Well, I'll turn this question back over to Johanna to finalize. Johanna.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yeah. I think we can definitely work with you here. I think probably what would happen is you would need to, at first, fill out your Attachment B-1 form, doing the activity of creating a strategy. That would be also your strategy for now.
Then as you develop your strategy and decide which activities you want to do, actually, in your community, you would probably need to work with your grant contract officer to amend your original strategy that you had submitted to us to include those activities now that you wanted to undertake.
I'm not sure exactly how the dispersement of funds would work in this case if you wanted to just take some at first to do your strategy and then take the remaining amount later once you decided what you wanted to do. I think it would best for us to put you in touch with our contracting officers over at NETL and help you figure out exactly how that would work.
So please send an email or — how can we get in touch with a person who asks this question? Does anybody know?
Molly Lunn:
If you have a specific question that you would like to submit to us and get in touch with us, as I mentioned before, I would recommend sending it to the eecbg@netl.doe.gov, that's N-E-T-L.doe.gov, that address. That goes straight to our field offices, including our project officers. That's really a great place for questions that has to do with those kinds of issues.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Thanks, Molly. That email address is within the slide presentation in case you missed it.
Molly Lunn:
Let's see. Next question. Oh, it's a great question from John Fort. "Since there are so many possible project types, can agencies submit more than one application, or should multiple project types be submitted in a single application?"
That really is a good question. There are lots of different kind of forms that could be a little complicated. But ______ is that there are lots of possible project types, but they should all be submitted under one application. But each project should have its own separate B-1 form, a project form. So for each separate type of project, you can provide detailed information and your metrics for those ______, so submit all within one application please.
As Lizana mentioned earlier, we will only accept one application per Indian tribe.
Okay. We have a question from Julianne Urston again. "Examples on the FOA do not include fleet. Does the program include fleet?" I'm assuming ______ fleet and I will, again, turn that question over to Johanna.
Johanna.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, you can use your funds to purchase alternative fuel vehicles as long as you can demonstrate that there's a need for those vehicles that are consistent with the program and the objectives of the program, which would include jobs created or retained, energy saved, etcetera.
This is actually a question that is part of our frequently asked questions, which is a link from our home page that Molly mentioned, eecbg.energy.gov. If you go up at the top to "About the Program," and click on "About the Program," on the left hand side you'll see a link to FAQs. You can go there and read the answer to that question as well as others.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks, Johanna.
Our next question is from Brian Treiler, "Will the competitive grant FOA — when will the competitive grant FOA ______, and is there an exact date?"
There's not an exact date for the competitive grant FOA. We do expect that to be released in the coming months. As I mentioned before, stay in tune, the program web page is really your best bet for the announcement date as well as the Funding Opportunity Announcement itself. That will be there.
Our next question is from Scott Moore. He asks, "What about tribes with limited or no internet access? How will they able to submit an application? Are paper copies okay?"
Again, I want to clarify ______. Let me state what Lizana said earlier. We are only accepting electronic applications for now. But we do want you to be in touch with us if you are having difficulty with that. We want to work with you. If you're having problems, certainly. But for now, all we're accepting — all applications must be submitted electronically.
Mike Myers:
This is Mike. We have another question from Brian Hoover, who asks, "Will a tribal strategic energy plan being developed as part of another Department of Energy funded project qualify as an Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy?"
There are a couple of questions, if I may, I think, perhaps, build into that one. One is ______ say any work that you're doing in terms of developing an Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy is extremely helpful and will help this process as you move forward, as you develop not only your strategy, but, of course, as you look at other eligible activities. The other issue is dealing in terms of what's being funded through another project.
Again, so the question here, again, is if you're developing a strategy on another DOE funded project, would it qualify as an EECS strategy?
Johanna, would you like to take that particular question?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Sure. Brian, I don't know the specifics of your situation. But let's say you have a tribal strategic energy plan that's pretty broad and comprehensive, what you'd need to do is if you were to fund maybe some of the elements of that plan with these Block Grant monies, you only need to report on to us in your strategy what those elements are that you will be paying for using the Block Grant funds. So you would not be able to simply substitute your tribal strategic energy plan right into our strategy document or Attachment D because we only want to know what activities you're doing with the money we're giving you under this program.
But to the extent that the activities that you do with this program money fits into a larger strategic plan that you already have developed. That's great. It would be great for us to know how the two strategies relate, what their relationship is.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks, Johanna.
Our next question comes from Mike Westlake. "If an applicant does not currently have an EECS, but chooses to use the grant funds to develop one, can the applicant still apply for projects in the application due June 25?"
That's a great question.
Johanna, would you like to take that one?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Sure. The answer is yes. You can do other activities in addition to a strategy. You would just need to fill out the Attachment B-1 form for each of those and submit that to us as part of your strategy.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Another question from Scott Moore. "Can a technical consultant also help you report on the use of funds?"
Yes. That's an important question. I believe that a technical consultant can help you use ______ to do tracking of your metrics and to help you report for the purposes of the program. But Johanna, is that the correct interpretation of that?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. Great.
Mike Myers:
This is Mike. I just want to remind everybody again. We have a little bit less than 15 minutes left for the end of the webinar. Again, thank you for your questions that are being submitted. Just wanted to, again, just keep sending those questions in and we're gonna try and keep ______ them and sending them back out to Lizana and to Johanna.
Again, thank you for submitting your questions. Again, we have about a little less than 15 minutes. We'll continue. To Molly.
Molly Lunn:
Yes. Sorry. I apologize for this. I'm just going through. Okay.
So there's a follow-up to one of the responses I gave on tribal council resolutions. From Jesus again, "Would ______ council resolutions ______ agencies with other councils be a valid foundation for a single application?"
Again, I apologize. I didn't realize it was with other counties and cities and that that would be their — it would be resolutions for ______ that you would need.
But it sounds like a particular case, as I said before, we want to review. But I would think that as long as you have a tribal counselor who is in addition to assurances from the local cities or towns, that that would be a valid foundation for a single application.
But again, as I mentioned before, specifically for these tribal council resolution questions, we encourage you to send those in to the email address or give us a call and we can work with you to try and get those answered.
Mike Myers:
One of the things just to follow up on that particular question, No. 5, that it does also sort of drive towards another issue. That is, again, it's always important to look for ways to leverage funds and to work with other types of jurisdictions as well. If there's a possibility to as you're having those communications and you're looking at those resolutions, whether or not that you want to submit a single application or not or if you end up doing all individual applications. It's still very valuable to understand what each of the other jurisdictions are doing. You may find ways to work together and some things and provide a greater service.
A real good example about that would be if you're doing improved codes, advanced building codes, or even doing retrofits for an area, where now you can be working with maybe more than one sub-grantor in terms of doing retrofits. But they're providing services to multiple areas and multiple buildings or homes and, hopefully, perhaps, even lower cost.
So again, working out those possibilities with other jurisdictions, communities, community groups, could also provide some additional benefits to you.
Molly Lunn:
Okay. We have a really interesting one from Brian Hoover. "Is the direct job creation a requirement for a ______?"
Johanna, I'm gonna ask you to answer that one.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Sure. The answer is no. It's not a direct requirement in terms of the number of jobs that you would create. This is somewhat of a goal or an objective. You would not be — I don't believe you would be turned down to receive your allocation if you do not reach a certain number.
But the important thing here to think about is that these funds are really provided to you to serve as an investment in your community and as an investment in all communities nationwide to create more jobs and retain more jobs during this time of economic depression or recession. Please think of it that way in terms of how can you create more jobs for your community. Don't think of it as so much in terms of what are the DOE requirements here, but how can you actually get those benefits working for you in your community.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks, Johanna.
Johanna Zetterberg:
There's a question that came in through the chat area that I see about CO2 sequestration. I could answer that if you'd like.
Molly Lunn:
That's perfect.
Johanna Zetterberg:
Okay. John Swan asked the question "Would CO2, carbon dioxide, sequestration fit well into this program?"
The answer is not really, John. There is an eligible use of funds, which is the reduction and capture of methane and other greenhouse gas emissions. We're looking for here is those emissions that are generated by landfills or other waste related sources such as sewage treatment facilities or animal waste facilities in some way or another.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks, Johanna.
We have a couple questions that are all sort of along the same ______ in the chat. The question is "How long after the deadline will funds be available? Is there a date yet?"
Johanna, do you want to take that one?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Actually, I don't know the answer to that, Molly. I think NETL would need to weigh on that.
Molly Lunn:
Oh, absolutely. I would agree with you. I think the best answer we can give you is as soon as we can, but it does require we have to review your application. There's a contract in process that has to take place. So it does not have a ______ deadline set as of yet. But we do hope to get those ______ as quickly as possible to all of you.
The next question comes from — I apologize. ______.
Mike Myers:
This is Mike again. Just want to remind everybody we are coming close to an end here. We have about three more minutes left for questions. So we're gonna try to put a few more of these out here as we can.
One of the questions that I saw earlier was, in some cases, you just have a little bit of funds and one of the questions came back "If we just had a little bit of funds, can we use that on an energy — can we use that to develop our strategy? We may not enough funds, for instance, to develop a major program."
Lizana, would you like to answer? Or Johanna, are you on the line?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, I'm here. Can you repeat the question, Mike?
Mike Myers:
"If we only have just a little bit of money, like $25,000.00, can we use those funds just to work on our strategy?"
Johanna Zetterberg:
Yes, you can. There's nothing that would prevent you from doing that. I would encourage you to include in your strategy some ways to go after additional funds so that you can implement your strategy when you're ready to do so.
So for example, as part of your strategy, you would want to look for opportunities to leverage or be able to use private funds maybe coming from a foundation or maybe doing some public/private partnership or maybe looking for other public funds, grant opportunities, possibly even competitive opportunities through DOE. But we don't want you to just stop with your strategy being developed. We want you to implement your strategy. So in some, I would encourage you to spend part of your planning or your strategic development on how can you access funds so that you can fully implement your strategy.
Mike Myers:
Thank you, Johanna. That's a great answer. Again, I think it's very important on how you want to ______, how you move forward, what are the specific actions can you do. That's the key aspect of that energy efficiency strategy, again, is what are those specific actions that you can move forward and implement.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks.
The next question is a question that I had sort of seen alluded to in here, which is what if we — what if we don't have an existing Energy Efficiency and Conservation strategy. I think we gave you some great first steps here today on what you should be considering and how you can start going about the planning process in the development of a strategy for your application for the June 25th deadline.
But what I also want to let you all know is that, later in the month, we are hoping to have — we will — not just hoping — we will be having — another webinar for tribal strategy planning. That will include Robert Taylor from the Department of Energy's lab at ______, as well as, hopefully, some fellow tribes can speak to you a little bit about what they're planning to do and how they came up with their plan so that you can get — there's a little conversation among peers here.
As I said, stay tuned to the website for that. But it will be later in May.
Okay. I think we're about ready to wrap up. Again, I just really want to thank everyone for participating today. This is a wonderful program that we're excited about and glad you are too.
If have any questions, as I said before, please submit them to the eecbg@netl.doe.gov address or through FedConnect or feel free to call our information center as well. Stay tuned to that Block Grant website. It'll really be your best resource, your best window to technical assistance resources, news about the program, and what's coming up.
So thanks again to all the presenters and you all for you participation.
Mike Myers:
Thank you to everybody. I just want to turn it over for a minute to Johanna. Any final words?
Johanna Zetterberg:
Thanks for the opportunity, Mike. But no. I will thank you all and wish you the best of luck in implementing this program so that it's successful for you. We are here for you. Please keep in touch as you have been. This is a new program for all of us. I think we're all very excited about it. So we'll move forward together.
Thank you very much.
Molly Lunn:
Great. Thanks, Johanna. All right, everyone, stay tuned to the website and we look forward to working with you in the future. Thanks.
Speaker:
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the webcast for today. We thank you for you participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.