About Power2

Charlotte's Energy Strategy Development

Project Selection

Through the process more than 100 project ideas were submitted by citizens and representatives of community organizations. These ideas were combined with City department suggestions, for a total of 250 project ideas. Projects were prioritized based on the results of criteria rankings:

1. Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Impact

• Demonstrate clear environmental benefit
• Improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Negligible adverse impacts to other environmental factors (i.e. water quality)
  
  

2. Job Creation

• High potential to create or retain local jobs
  
  

3. Community Catalyst

• High level of community support
• Provides education opportunities
• Potential to serve as catalyst for additional progress
  
  

4. Return on Investment

• Clear defined economic advantage
• Short payback period - energy savings and City cost avoidance
• No negative impact to local tax base
  
  

5. Leveraging Programs and Partnerships

• Ability to leverage additional public and/or private funding
• Clearly utilize external partners, programs and resources
  
  

6. Implementability

• Implementation timeframe of 1-3 years - "shovel ready"
• Well established and proven track record of successful implementation
• Does not require extensive City staff level of effort
  
  

7. Innovation and Leadership

• Leadership and visibility potential
• Lead by example for local community
• Innovative projects that represent visionary approaches
  
  

Members of the public surveyed and Energy Partners agreed that a multi-faceted Energy Strategy approach that included projects that have a high level of community support, provide educational opportunities that affect behavior change, are highly visible, and have the potential to serve as catalyst for future progress was very important. Potential projects were further screened and evaluated against DOE criteria (jobs created, energy saved, and GHG emissions reduced). Using the process described above, a total of 18 projects were selected to be included in the Energy Strategy. A summary of these projects and a brief description of each are attached.

There were numerous projects that did not make the recommended list for the Energy Grant, either due to funding limitations or not meeting the DOE requirements. These projects will be considered as possible components of a larger energy plan for the City in the future.

Estimated Project Benefits
Below is a summary of the total impact that these 18 projects will have on jobs created, annual energy savings, and annual reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The following benefits are calculated based on DOE formulas. Individual project data sheets contain projected impacts where quantifiable. For example, benefits for the Energy Investments in Revitalization Areas projects are not yet quantifiable. Therefore the project benefits given on the following project data sheets may not equal the numbers in the chart below at this time.

SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED PROJECT BENEFITS

• Local Jobs Created (includes jobs created through leveraged funding) 88-147*
• Annual Energy Savings (kWh) 41,000,000
• Annual GHG Emissions Reduced (metric tons) 37,000
• Annual Savings $2.54 million
• Payback Period (years) 2.78

* The calculations for the number of jobs created and/or saved reflect the most recent guidance from the Executive Office of the President and Council of Economic Advisors, and are based on the federal figure of $92,000 for one job, including salary and benefits. This equates to 88 jobs. The average wage in the Charlotte region, including benefits is $55,000. If this was used as the formula, then the resulting number of jobs created by these projects would be 147.

These results are estimated using the required U.S. DOE calculator, and do not necessarily represent actual projected energy savings. They are based on aggregated data and assumptions made by the DOE for purposes of standardizing quantitative estimates in applications and facilitating this task for the applicants. The DOE requires regular reporting of performance metrics that will be much more specific to each individual project, such as monetary value of financial incentives provided, number of conventional vehicles converted to alternative fuels, and square footage of homes / buildings audited.

The calculator also provides estimates for GHG emissions reduced and jobs retained, again for the purposes of simplifying the EECBG application process and standardizing calculations across hundreds of applicants. GHG emissions reduced is calculated based on the kWh saved estimate and the regional emissions factor provided by U.S. EPA.