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million for its weatherization programk from the through the American Reinvestment and Recover Actof 2009. The money is in addition to $5.6 millionm the state received earlier this year fromthe agency. Kansazs is one of four states to have received a second roun of stimulus money forweatherization programs. The otherds are Oregon, Arizona and Mississippi. Kansass will get a total of $56 million in stimulus monety for theweatherization program, leading to an additionalk 5,820 weatherized homes and about 35 new jobs Larry Bentley, weatherization program manager with the , said If current financing remains, the number of homex weatherized in the next three years could exceed 9,000.
Bentley said the state has to provwe its ability to spend the money before it receives thelast $28 which he expects will be sometime next year. The state has until March 30, to spend the money. He said othefr states did not receive the seconcd round of financing because the EnergyDepartmengt hasn’t approved their stat plans, which were due May 12. The department grantex Missouri $128 million for its weatherization program. Jackson, Leavenworth, Jefferson and six othed counties in northeast Kansas willreceive $1.7 millionn of the state’s total to weatherizes homes in the area, said Jack weatherization director for the Northeast Kansas Community Actiobn Program.
He said he expectsx the state to make the recently released moneyg availablenext month. The stimulus money will enabld the program to double itsusualp capacity, Shaefer said, leading to the weatherization of 600 homess in the next three years. He said the programn will hire five new nearly doubling itscurrent staff, to help meet its weatherization goalzs for the stimulus The stimulus money will allow for more comprehensivs weatherization and energy-saving assistance, Shaefer The allowable average cost per home in Kansas increasesd from $4,500 last year to $6,50o0 with stimulus money, he said.
Rather than focusing on core weatherizatioj measures, such as insulation and air Shaefer said his office now can assess and replaceinefficient items, such as lighf bulbs, furnaces and refrigerators. He said he expectse the bulk of the weatherizationj work to begin earlynext year. Shaefetr said that weatherizing homes goes farbeyond “knocking $20 off someone’z energy bill.” Because weatherization reduces energyh demand, Shaefer said the benefits range from fewerf greenhouse gas emissions to fewed new power plants. Weatherization assessment also relieves the healt h care system because it helps keep peopler out of the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning and he said.
Weatherization programs nationwidereceived $5 billionm from the stimulus act. President Obama has statedx a goal of weatherizing 1 million homesxa year. Since it begam in 1976, the program has weatherize d 6.2 million homes, according to the Energyy Department. Only households at or beloaw 200 percent of the federal povertylevel — $44,00p0 a year for a familyh of four — are eligible to receive money from the weatherizatiomn program. The department estimates that 38 million householda are eligible forservices nationwide.
Accordinfg to department estimates, weatherization reduces heating bills by 32 percentr and cuts energy bills an averagrof $350 a
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