LEXINGTON, Ky. — Joined by Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry, partners from the housing, environmental and business communities and several volunteers, Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear today launched the pilot program of Kentucky’s Clean Energy Corps (KCEC) at the North Lexington home of Leona Pena. Pena’s home is the first of 100 low to moderate-income Central Kentucky homes to receive energy efficiency rehabilitation in KCEC pilot project.
“Jane and I are both eager proponents of energy conservation,” said Gov. Beshear. “We’ve implemented many low-cost, energy saving measures in the Governor’s mansion and I recently unveiled a plan to make state office buildings reduce their energy use as a part of our state’s first-ever comprehensive strategy for energy independence. Through this pilot project, we hope to help many Kentucky families identify energy savings and reduce carbon emissions.”
The mission of KCEC is to harness the resources of government, business, education and nonprofit sectors to make eligible homes 20-30 percent more energy efficient, saving low-income families money and thereby reducing the demand for utility assistance funds currently available to assist these families. The program also helps protecting the environment by promoting easy, everyday steps that everyone can take to capture energy savings and reduce carbon emissions in their homes, while engaging Kentuckians—particularly our youngest and greenest generation—in volunteer service for their neighbors and their communities, as well as creating or sustaining jobs in the struggling housing construction sector.
As part of the pilot program, 100 low to moderate-income families in Lexington and rural Bourbon and Clark counties will receive an energy audit to determine leaks in the building envelope and energy efficiency education and energy savings tips. The program also identifies options for energy efficiency rehabilitation, including the insulation of ducts, attics, walls and ceilings; the replacement of inefficient appliances and heat pumps; replacement of leaky doors and windows; the repair and upgrade of unsafe electrical equipment; and the repair or replacement of roofing, siding and foundations.
