Seattle gets $20 million grant for retrofits

Seattle was awarded a $20 million grant Wednesday to expand an energy-efficiency program to retrofit thousands of homes and businesses south of downtown.

Seattle was one of 25 cities that got a Retrofit Ramp Up award, part of the federal stimulus program. Mayor Mike McGinn attended the White House news conference where Vice President Joseph Biden announced the awards Wednesday. Seattle and the other winners emerged from 150 applicants.

The grant will provide money for rebates and loans for homes, businesses, hospitals and rentals from the downtown core to Rainier Valley.

Seattle officials expect to know details about how residents and businesses can take advantage of the grant after May 31.

Homeowners will be able pay $95 for an audit of their homes' energy efficiency. Then the program will lend them money to make improvements, which could include new lighting, heat, water-heaters, insulation and weatherstripping. In addition to the loans, the grant will fund rebates for those items based on the amount of carbon emissions saved.

Businesses and renters will be eligible for similar retrofits, but the loans will be handled a little differently in different situations. Renters, for example, could make an improvement with grant money and pay the city back in their electric bill.

Retrofits often pay for themselves over time, so the grant helps people afford the investment upfront.

"All around the country, people are looking at, how do you create essentially a new part of the economy, where you can finance enough efficiencies through the savings that are realized," McGinn said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

A letter from McGinn was included in the city's grant application in December, before McGinn took office. The new program builds on a pilot program started last fall. That program used federal money along with Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy money to audit homes and set up a small-loan program.

The $20 million grant comes with matching funds from local businesses, other funds, and utilities. So the $20 million is intended to pay for a $140 million program over three years.

The grant will pay for retrofits from Madison Street south to South Graham Street east of Interstate 5 and south to the Georgetown neighborhood on the west side of I-5.

"It creates jobs in a neighborhood that needs jobs," McGinn said. The program is projected to create as many as 2,000 jobs.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com