Energy Conservation

About 600 homes of low-income families and as many as 25 public housing projects in New Jersey will receive free weatherization each year under an expanded energy-conservation program offered by Public Service Electric & Gas Co. The utility, the largest in the state, also will offer 250 low-interest loans each year to owners of multi-family housing units for installation of conservation aids, as well as discounts to business customers who take...

One of the nation's largest sources of mortgage money is preparing a hot summer offer for lenders, consumers and home builders across the country: Lower the energy bills on the houses you finance, buy, fix up or build, and we'll give you cold cash. Show us your monthly savings on electricity, gas or other energy consumption, and we'll cut you a more generous mortgage deal when you apply. We'll stretch your buying power, qualify you for a bigger loan, and help push energy conservation to boot.

When it comes to meeting electricity demands for the 1990s, some of the nation's utilities are betting on energy conservation. They are putting big bucks where environmentalists' mouths have been for years - and proving them right. The trend is saving utility customers money, cleaning the air, cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil and, not coincidentally, boosting utility profits. The nation's biggest power company, Pacific Gas & Electric, is a leader in this movement.

Ever since President Bush gave short shrift to energy conservation at a Q. and A. during his fishing trip to Kennebunkport last summer, we've been waiting for him to wise up and give that issue serious attention. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, we figured, provided a perfect opportunity: Americans might not be great planners, but they sure do respond to crisis. And Iraq had served up a genuine, four-star crisis. We know. George Bush is an old oil man himself. Leans toward production, not conservation.

Philadelphia Gas Works is ramping up promotion of its EnergySense program, a $54 million five-year plan to encourage energy conservation. The city's utility is offering to weatherize eligible homes of some of its 84,000 low-income customers. It is also offering rebates of up to $1,000 for high-efficiency heating equipment for all residential customers. In September, the utility will be offering assistance for commercial and industrial retrofits. In the following years, it will offer incentives for commercial and industrial equipment, high-efficiency construction, and residential retrofits.

Betty and William Staats are hitting the road. They sold their house on Murray Avenue in Bensalem and bought a new, 35- foot home on wheels. The 65-year-old manufacturing consultant is retiring, and he and his wife plan to drive to Florida and California and back before winter. During the oil crisis of the 1970s, Staats says, he would have paused at embarking on a nomadic way of life. "At that time they led you to believe that we were running out of oil in five years or so," said Staats.

DID anyone besides me see the irony in the president's visit to DuPont last week? He traveled from D.C. to Wilmington, barely 100 miles. A motorcade could have made the trip in maybe 90 minutes and only cost the taxpayers 150 to 200 gallons of gas. But he flew Air Force One. The irony: He went there to talk about energy conservation! Bob Johnson Warminster

A $441,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to the Pennsylvania Treasury will be used to help expand the state's energy-efficient investments. One-half of the grant will be used to recapitalize the Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), which provides low-interest loans to homeowners for energy-conservation improvements, Treasurer Rob McCord said. The other half of the Rockefeller grant will support the creation of financing packages for Pennsylvania colleges and universities to improve their energy efficiency.

Public Service Electric & Gas Co., the state's largest energy company, announced yesterday that it will buck the national trend by keeping intact the amount it spends on projects promoting energy conservation. The announcement came just days after another New Jersey utility - Jersey Central Power & Light - drew scorn from environmental groups for seeking to shrink its energy-conservation programs. The move by the PSE&G "is a victory for customers and the environment," said Curtis Fisher, program director of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group - the same group that had chastised Jersey Central Power and Light.

Consumer and environmental groups lashed out yesterday at a major New Jersey electric company that seeks to shrink its energy-conservation programs. But the utility says that, with a glut of cheap energy now available, such conservation programs are no longer cost-effective. Jersey Central Power and Light's proposal could foreshadow similar moves by other utilities in the region also seeking to capitalize on the lure of cheap energy from other parts of the country. Consumers would no longer receive discounts for limiting their use of appliances at peak energy times if the state Board of Public Utilities, which plans to decide on the plan by year's end, approves JCP&L's proposal.

Peco Energy Co. - and the Eagles! - are touting energy conservation. That's the idea behind the utility's latest promotion, which kicks off Saturday in South Philadelphia, though not at the Linc. Instead, courtesy of Peco, fans will be able to visit with one of today's favorite Eagles, tight end Brent Celek; two stars from yesteryear, Troy Vincent and Mike Quick; and the voice of the Eagles, Merrill Reese, from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Home Depot store, 1651 S. Columbus Blvd.

You may, perhaps, spot a garishly decorated Ford Escape cruising down your block in the coming months with a camera mounted on its roof. Yes, that SUV is snapping an image of your house. Mark Group, a home-weatherization firm, is launching a mobile thermal-imaging effort Thursday to identify buildings in the region that leak the most energy. The company calls its high-tech vehicle the HeatSeeker. One might think this is a gimmick to generate business for Mark Group, a British home-insulation giant that last year established its American beachhead at Philadelphia's Navy Yard.

Philadelphia Gas Works is ramping up promotion of its EnergySense program, a $54 million five-year plan to encourage energy conservation. The city's utility is offering to weatherize eligible homes of some of its 84,000 low-income customers. It is also offering rebates of up to $1,000 for high-efficiency heating equipment for all residential customers. In September, the utility will be offering assistance for commercial and industrial retrofits. In the following years, it will offer incentives for commercial and industrial equipment, high-efficiency construction, and residential retrofits.

Of all the places to plant a crop of solar panels, proponents suggest that few are better than the roof of a school. Consider its primary physical attribute: all that, often, flat surface - assuming, of course, it is not shaded by a dense tree canopy. And the economic appeal: There's the drop in energy costs that going solar provides, and the opportunity for school districts to make money by selling the power harnessed from the summer sun that's not needed when classrooms are empty and the lights are off. Working off that premise, New Jersey legislators are pushing a bill that would prohibit the commissioner of education from approving construction of any new school unless plans include solar panels.

A $441,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to the Pennsylvania Treasury will be used to help expand the state's energy-efficient investments. One-half of the grant will be used to recapitalize the Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), which provides low-interest loans to homeowners for energy-conservation improvements, Treasurer Rob McCord said. The other half of the Rockefeller grant will support the creation of financing packages for Pennsylvania colleges and universities to improve their energy efficiency.

Philadelphia and Camden on Wednesday won a total of $30 million in federal grants to help pay for renovations to make thousands of commercial and residential buildings more energy efficient. Philadelphia's $25 million and Camden's $5 million are part of the $452 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy in stimulus dollars in 25 cities. In Philadelphia, some of the money will go to create a loan program to help businesses pay for energy-efficient renovations. Money will be available regionwide and distributed on a competitive basis, the city said.

The Jewish festival of lights begins at sundown tonight, and some say that to celebrate correctly this year, you might need a bicycle and a bottle of olive oil. That's because Hanukkah, which was a minor star on the celebratory horizon for generations, is being recast - again. And, just as at Hanukkah's 1879 reincarnation, Philadelphians are at ground zero of the shift. Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center in West Mount Airy, who is among the change-seekers, reminds all who will listen that the Hanukkah story is about one day's supply of oil lasting eight days.

Take a walk around Mayor Nutter's "green" Philadelphia and you'll find an open, public space within a 10-minute walk of almost every Philadelphian's home. Also within a short stroll from every household: a farmer's market or other healthy, fresh food outlet. Both visions are part of the mayor's ambitious plan, scheduled to be announced today, to make Philadelphia the No. 1 Green City in the nation. "We've put out a plan that is aggressive, achievable and measurable," said Nutter.

For a Bensalem producer of energy-efficient windows and doors, yesterday's visit from Gov. Rendell meant a publicity surge. For the state of Pennsylvania, that visit will mean $366 million in federal stimulus funds to develop alternative energy projects and encourage energy conservation. Rendell used Accu-Weld Replacement Window & Door Co. as the backdrop for signing two certification letters necessary for Pennsylvania to receive its energy-related stimulus money. It's part of the overall $787 billion federal stimulus package.