As if weatherization were not an interesting enough subject to attract a crowd, program organizers invited two green evangelists from the Phillies - relief pitcher Ryan Madson and the team's shamrock sidekick, the Phanatic.
Madson and his wife, Sarah, have commissioned Caledonia Renovations L.L.C. on the Main Line to expand and update a 1950s house in Wayne using energy-efficient technology. Madson said the house would feature a geothermal heating and cooling system, upgraded insulation, and energy-saving lighting.
The first EnergyWorks loan will help pay for a high-efficiency heating and air-conditioning system in a new Homewood Suites hotel set for groundbreaking next month in University City. David Adelman, chief executive of the developer, Campus Apartments Inc., said the $1.5 million loan would help reduce energy costs for the project 25 percent.
EnergyWorks is the "first major accomplishment" of the Metropolitan Caucus, a regional coalition formed in March 2009, said Delaware County Councilman Mario J. Civera Jr.
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the $25 million "Recovery Through Retrofit" stimulus grant in April. The funds will be leveraged by using them to reduce the interest rates on loans underwritten by the state's Keystone Home Energy Loan Program, said Andy Rachlin, EnergyWorks director.
Some of the funds have gone to construct the program's website, www.energyworksnow.com, and to assemble teams of public-relations professionals to promote the effort.
Rachlin said an effort was made to minimize creation of a new bureaucracy - his job as program director is part of his portfolio of duties as deputy chief of staff in the deputy mayor's Office for Economic Development.
For more information on EnergyWorks, call 215-609-1052 or go to
Contact staff writer Andrew Maykuth at 215-854-2947 or amaykuth@phillynews.com.
