Energy Efficiency

The rowhouses are boarded-up shells, roofs open to the elements. They're magnets for drug users, blights on their East Baltimore community. Energy-inefficient as all get-out. That's about to change. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. is giving $500,000 during the next five years to a nonprofit that will rehab the homes - 100 in all - for low-income buyers, complete with construction work and features designed to keep the cost down on monthly utility bills. The company plans to announce the donation, funded through the Constellation Energy Foundation, at an event today.

A CONFLUENCE of events has placed energy policy at the forefront of our national and state agendas over the last few years. The energy crisis in California and fluctuating oil and gas prices have forced decision-makers to examine our energy policy with much closer scrutiny. The Northeast's electricity blackout in August underscored the consequences of our overreliance on a large, unstable and overtaxed power system. The recurrence of these supply and transmission problems highlights the need for conservation and energy efficiency as well as moving toward renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.

It's unlikely that officials with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. expected the Maryland Public Service Commission to reject most of the company's energy-efficiency programs. After all, what the utility had proposed - the customary package of consumer incentives and rebates - reflects what's been done in the past and continues to take place elsewhere. But the PSC move last month was right if for no other reason then simple cost-effectiveness. Traditional approaches such as offering rebates to buyers who use Energy Star appliances are unduly expensive (though potentially lucrative to the utility)

A coalition of environmental organizations is mounting a last-ditch effort to persuade Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to ignore a plea by The Home Depot Inc. that he veto a bill setting energy-efficiency standards for nine types of appliances sold in Maryland. The legislation, which supporters contend would save Maryland consumers $600 million in energy costs by 2020, is regarded by conservation advocates as one of their most important achievements of this year's legislative session. Environmentalists contend that making appliances more energy-efficient helps reduce the emission of pollutants fouling the air and water.

The energy-efficient mortgage, an idea that has been around for years but has never attained broad appeal, may be ready to catch on in a big way.The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Energy are pressing ahead with plans to make the mortgages easily available around the country within the next year or two.The action by the federal agencies has come in response to a Congress-imposed deadline of November for the creation of...

Owners of commercial buildings could receive local property tax credits if they make buildings that are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, under a bill proposed to the Howard County Council recently. Councilman Christopher J. Merdon introduced legislation that would create a property tax credit of up to 20 percent for three years for properties that are certified through the U.S. Green Buildings Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), or so-called green buildings.

Marylanders won't have to pay sales tax on energy-efficient major appliances under a groundbreaking bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Parris N. Glendening. The new law, believed to be the broadest of its kind in the nation, provides incentives for consumers to buy products that use fuel-conserving technologies, including cars that run entirely or partly on electricity. It also provides for tax credits to companies that generate power using "clean" energy sources. The legislation, hailed by supporters as a model for the nation, was one of more than 250 bills the governor signed at a State House ceremony yesterday.

Maryland appears to be at the forefront of a movement among some states to require greater standards of energy efficiency in appliances - an issue poised to deliver the first legislative override of a governor's veto since 1989. The General Assembly passed standards for nine mostly commercial appliances last year, only to see the action vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. But the legislature is widely expected to override the veto as one of its first actions after it convenes in Annapolis today.

WASHINGTON -- Congress stumbled toward its August recess on a discordant note yesterday as angry partisanship and distrust slowed the House and Senate in one last example of the ideological standoff that has made progress difficult all year. A bitter procedural fight in the House forced Democrats to delay until today consideration of an energy efficiency bill that they had hoped would cap off a week of accomplishment before heading home. But lawmakers put disagreements aside long enough for the House to approve $250 million to help rebuild the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis.

Think your BGE bill is high? Meet the Glaun family of Owings Mills. Their electricity bill last month topped $900. And that was a major improvement over January, when they had to pay a whopping $1,151. "It's quite embarrassing," said Kim Glaun, who says she turns off lights in empty rooms and lowers the thermostat at night. "We feel like there's a big hole in our house." Turns out, their house is full of little holes that appeared last week as purple splotches captured by an infrared camera that "sees" invisible cold pockets - evidence that chilly air is invading a home as warmth escapes.