Federal Agencies Unite - Effort to Bring More Jobs, Energy, and Home Weatherization
May 11, 2009 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Graphic courtesy of Weatherize America.
WASHINGTON - In an effort to help struggling Americans alleviate some of the costs of high heating and cooling expenses, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Energy have tentatively agreed to pool their resources to initiate projects to weatherize and energy retrofit both rural and urban low-income homes and properties across the country.
“By making it as easy as possible for families to weatherize their homes, we can create new jobs that can’t be shipped oversees, save families money on their energy bills, and take another step toward energy independence,” said Steven Chu, secretary of the DOE.
The agreement comes in the form of a “memorandum of understanding” between the two agencies, which outlines their plans to use a combined a sum of up to $16 billion to implement their new programs. The funding is being provided as part the American Recovery and Revitalization Act of 2009’s stimulus package.