{"id":201,"date":"2012-02-01T23:59:35","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T05:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=201"},"modified":"2012-02-15T18:30:18","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T00:30:18","slug":"weatherization-assistance-program-true-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/01\/weatherization-assistance-program-true-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Weatherization Assistance Program True Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">I came across an article <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.energycentral.com\/enduse\/energyefficiency\/news\/en\/23240421\/W\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">\u00a0titled \u201cHighest Recovery Act Job Creator\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">\u00a0, which is really just reporting the <\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.recovery.gov\/News\/featured\/Pages\/Weatherization-Program-Beats-Deadline.aspx\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #0000ff; font-size: small;\">article found on the recovery.gov site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">.\u00a0 The reporting initially is perceived to be a positive report card for the Department of Energy low-income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).\u00a0 The positive notes touted:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">2<sup>nd<\/sup> out of 200 federal programs in job creation<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Top ten for Recovery Act in terms of creation and retention<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Saved $320 Million in energy cost in just the first year<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Reduces home energy use by 35%, \u00a0saving $400 per household<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">More than 600K homes<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">As reported the numbers seem fine, but let us do some math.\u00a0\u00a0 In the same article, they note the following:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">WAP cost $5 billion<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Created <strong>OR <\/strong>retained more than 13000 jobs<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;\">Given my concerns about the cost, whether it was actually spent or even appropriated, I searched the database to evaluate the awards given for the program.\u00a0\u00a0 From <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.recovery.gov\/pages\/TextViewProjSummary.aspx?data=recipientAwardsList&amp;Agency=89&amp;AwardType=CGL&amp;CFDA_CODE=141\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #0000ff; font-size: small;\">searching the recovery.gov database<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\"> for CFDA code 81.042 Weatherization Assistance for Low-Income Persons:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Total Awards<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">1,384 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Total Award Amount <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">$4,885,043,224<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The $5 billion figure would seem to be the appropriate cost the taxpayer has spent to achieve the above results. \u00a0\u00a0The government could have reported the following results in this manner:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Program cost per employed $370K ($5 Billion\/13,500 jobs)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Almost 20 years on a <strong>non-discounted<\/strong> basis to break even on energy savings ($5 Billion\/($400*600,000 homes)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The above stats when presented in that fashion does not look so appealing.\u00a0 I know many argue, and rightly so; job creation is greater than the one year.\u00a0 However, these types of jobs are not sustainable as one can only do so much weatherization.\u00a0\u00a0 Parks and services would generate more sustainable jobs and at a much lower cost than weatherization.\u00a0\u00a0 In terms of the energy savings, it is a small number because the fact is energy prices are not that high relative to the value it brings as compared to a cup of coffee.\u00a0 Who is saving the $400?\u00a0 Low income housing energy prices are subsidized to begin with.\u00a0 There are several nuances with low income particularly section 8 housing.\u00a0\u00a0 I have seen where the land owner pays the utility and other cases where the tenant pays, but its average use is rolled into the calculation of the rent.\u00a0\u00a0 Either way the \u201creturn\u201d to the tenant is not clear.\u00a0 It is possible some of\u00a0these projects are just funding the owner.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">The scary thing for me is to see that this is the #2 out of 200 federal programs for job creation.\u00a0 I hope the others have better calculated stats.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">At All Energy Consulting we pursue on looking at various issues in numerous lights.\u00a0\u00a0 This is the only way to make sure bias viewpoints are removed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>We positively and evocatively challenge the current thinking involving any aspect of energy use. We look for projects that offer meaningful, transformative, with impactful outcome to the marketplace or society (<a href=\"http:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/testimonials\/\">see projects<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Please consider All Energy Consulting for your consulting needs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">Your Energy Consultant,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:dkb@allenergyconsulting.com\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri; color: #0000ff; font-size: small;\">David K. Bellman<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;\">6143560484<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I came across an article \u00a0titled \u201cHighest Recovery Act Job Creator\u201d \u00a0, which is really just reporting the article found on the recovery.gov site.\u00a0 The reporting initially is perceived to be a positive report card for the Department of Energy low-income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).\u00a0 The positive notes touted: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2nd out of 200 federal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[66,70,69,71],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-insights","category-power","tag-subsidies","tag-wap","tag-weatherization","tag-weatherization-assistance-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allenergyconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}