$300 million for insulation

Without any mention of climate change, Alaska could soon take a huge step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
State Senator Lyman Hoffman of Bethel is quietly pushing a huge, one-time boost in funding for home weatherization and energy efficiency programs. In recent years, the state has put $3 million into low-income weatherization. Hoffman wants $200 million. In recent years, the state has not put any money into an energy efficiency rebate program. Hoffman wants $100 million.
Both programs are overseen by the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., a public corporation. The weatherization program works by funneling money through regional non-profits that do the actual work. With the $3 million in state funds and $1.8 million in federal funds, the program reaches about 600 households a year.
That's way below the income limit, which is set by regulation at 60 percent of the Alaska poverty line. A 2005 Information Insights study estimated 45,000 homes were eligible out of the roughly 260,000 in the state.
Hoffman figured a 10-time increase in funding would still only cover a fraction of the homes that qualify -- about 4,200. The $200 million he wants would be about a 42-time increase and would cover about 17,400 homes, which works out to about $11,500 worth of work per home.
The other program would provide rebates of between $2,500 and $5,000 for improvements in home energy efficiency, based on how many steps homeowners increase in Energy Star Ratings. (One step gets you $2,500; five or more gets you $5,000.)
That program is not dependent on income.
(Info is mostly from Hoffman's office.)
I don't really have any figures on greenhouse gas reductions from something like this, but consider the following.
-Any reduction in the use of heating fuel or electricity (from fossil fuel-fire power plants anyway) also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
-Energy conservation is widely considered the cheapest, most effective measure (compared to renewables, for example).
This might sound like a pipe dream -- another rural lawmaker is struggling to get a $10 million state match for LIHEAP -- except that Hoffman is co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and the money
is already in the supplemental budget the committee approved.
The Housing Finance Corp. is apparently on board, but I'm not sure about the gov.
A bill that may or may not be needed to make the plan work is up for its first hearing today.
Stay tuned.