# Oregon Celebrates Launch of Statewide Clean Energy Works Program

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2011/04/oregon-celebrates-launch-of-statewide-clean-energy-works-program/
- Published: 2011-04-17T05:12:49-04:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

_**Job Creation and Energy Savings Anticipated for Communities throughout the State**_

U.S. Department of Energy

Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable issued a statement
_celebrating the launch of Oregon’s Clean Energy Works statewide program, as well
as the successful completion of its pilot project in the city of Portland. The pilot
project reached its goal of 500 energy efficiency home upgrades and supported over
350 jobs. Due to the enthusiastic response to the pilot program, Clean Energy Works
Oregon is expanding the program to 17 communities throughout the state. In the next
three years, Clean Energy Works Oregon anticipates enrolling 6,000 Oregon homes 
in the program, significantly increasing energy savings and spurring the support
of 1,300 new quality jobs through 2013._

“Through the statewide launch of the Clean Energy Works program, the Recovery Act
is helping thousands of families in Oregon save money by saving energy. The Portland
pilot program has been successful in supporting new jobs in the community, expanding
the market for energy efficiency products and services, and is serving as a model
for other communities looking to adopt home energy efficiency programs.

**BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT**

[Clean Environment ergy Works Oregon](https://enhabit.org/) (CEWO) is a new non-
profit organization established to finance and deliver an energy efficiency building
retrofit program that will support jobs while increasing energy savings.  CEWO offers
loans that customers can repay through utility bills and streamlined installations
of energy efficiency upgrades. The non-profit will leverage a $20 million grant 
provided by the Recovery Act, also known as the Stimulus Plan, into $120 million
of economic activity, helping to  transform the energy efficiency finance sector
and create a self-sustaining industry that will consistently supports high-quality
jobs.

CEWO brings together a statewide coalition of public and private partners including
the City of Portland, Energy Trust of Oregon, Enterprise Cascadia, utilities, home
performance contractors and many others.   The program builds on the successful 
Clean Energy Works Portland pilot program, funded with an initial investment of 
$1.1 million of Recovery Act funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Block Grant program.  The pilot has upgraded more than 500 homes in Portland, supporting
quality construction jobs today and ensuring both energy financial savings for homeowners
for decades to come.

_BetterBuildings is a U.S. Department of Energy initiative with a mission of creating
a self-sustaining building retrofit market. With over $500 million in federal funding,
41 state and local governments and partnering organizations are providing high quality,
accessible and affordable energy improvements to homes and businesses across the
nation. The program will leverage an estimated $3 billion in additional resources
over the next three years. BetterBuildings aims to provide energy upgrades to 170,000
residential and commercial buildings, saving consumers about $50 million annually
on energy bills._

_BetterBuildings partnerships support growth in the new energy efficiency retrofit
market by implementing innovative approaches, bringing real solutions to market,
and creating sustainable business models. The lessons learned from BetterBuildings
programs will be developed and shared as best practices for creating comprehensive
energy efficiency upgrade programs that can be adopted and implemented by communities
and administrators across the nation._

To learn more about how The U.S. Department of Energy’s BetterBuilding program is
changing lives by changing buildings.

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 greenlivingguy

 The Green Living Guy, Seth Leitman is an independent power producer, a green living
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