DelCo Council Offers ‘Green’ Grants

Local boroughs and townships will be receiving help to go "green" by a new municipal grant program that the  has unleashed.

"The municipal grant program makes available a total of $700,000 to be distributed to municipalities through two types of grants, prescriptive and custom," Council Vice-Chair Christine Fizzano Cannon said during Tuesday’s council meeting. "The goal is to help municipalities assess their energy needs and achieve energy-saving measures in their buildings."

Some of the programs being offered, such as the Municipal Energy Efficiency Grant Program, are being funded through $3.6 million in funding that has been awarded to the county through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, stated Fizzano Cannon.

The county also plans to increase the use of clean energy, such as solar power, and will educate residents about smart energy uses by using the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, Fizzano Cannon added. That grant will also be used to create jobs for energy-related projects.

"Custom grants will be considered on a case-by-case basis and the county will welcome any project that reduces energy use by 15 percent or more, including ductwork upgrades, boiler replacements and lighting controls," she said.

For the 46 municipalities that have not received federal funding for going green, the County Council and the County Planning Department will host four workshops that will go over and explain the grant programs for the officials for those municipalities.

Those presentations are as follows:

• 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 1, Borough of Media, 301 N. Jackson St., Media
• 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 2, Upper Chichester Township, Furey Road, Boothwyn
• 2 p.m., Thursday, March 3, Ridley Township, 100 E. MacDade Blvd., Folsom
• 1:30 p.m., Monday, March 7, Lansdowne, Borough, 12 E. Baltimore Ave., Lansdowne

Practical Energy Solutions, a West Chester-energy management firm, will be working with the county to provide energy management services.

The County Council suggested that if there are any questions, residents can contact Justin Dula, a manager in the Delaware County Planning Department, at 610-891-5219, or Dianne Herrin, energy program manager for Practical Energy Solutions, at 610-430-1382.