Published on: Wednesday, June 24, 2009

By Gov. Martin O'Malley

As families across our state struggle to find ways to pay their energy bills, last week we gathered at the home of Richard and Sonja Lowery to formally announce Maryland’s first steps in expanding our home weatherization program, designed to benefit thousands of low-income families throughout the state.

While there, we conducted a home energy efficiency audit and made some of the necessary improvements to the home at no expense to the Lowerys, thanks to funding from President Obama’s Recovery and Reinvestment Act that allows us to more than double the amount of families we can service through our home weatherization program.

These audits may seem trivial on an individual basis, but the fact is families could save between $300 and $400 per year with simple energy efficiency improvements. If every household in the state of Maryland swapped out one incandescent light bulb for a compact florescent bulb, for example, it would save enough energy to power more than 6,300 homes for one full year.

Families must qualify for the program, so I encourage Marylanders to seek more information through their local energy office by calling 800-638-7781 or through Maryland’s assistance Web site problemsolver.maryland.gov.

The state’s enhanced weatherization effort also includes the creation of a Maryland Weatherization Training Center and institutional career paths through community colleges. State agencies are working with a consortium of Maryland community colleges to put together a statewide training program.

Under our EmPOWER Maryland initiative, the State of Maryland will reduce energy consumption by 15 percent by the year 2015. Recent State initiatives, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap-and-trade program and Clean Cars Act, have put the state on track to reduce greenhouse gases by 12.5 percent—half of the 25 percent reduction goal. These actions, along with the Climate Change Commission’s Climate Action Plan that details 42 options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, demonstrate that this reduction goal is achievable and beneficial for the more sustainable future we all prefer.

Martin O’Malley is the governor of Maryland.