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Green projects take root in Kansas City as stimulus money starts to flow
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Green has become the current color of choice in U.S. society as federal stimulus money for “green” construction work and other energy-efficient initiatives spread across the American landscape.
The green movement has already permeated pop culture, with references that range from Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” to green supermarket totes to hybrid and electric cars to green recycling bins to a multitude of green household cleaning products to Energy Star appliances to green construction materials, such as bamboo and hemp.
In central Kansas, the town of Greensburg has become a shining example of the constructive green spirit. After being completely leveled by a tornado in 2007 Greensburg is now being completely rebuilt with green technology. Meanwhile, stimulus money earmarked for green technology is beginning to flow into the Kansas City metro area, pumping life into the urban core’s dehydrated economy.
In February 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), a $787 billion economic stimulus package. The energy portions of the ARRA law are intended to promote rapid development of renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and other sectors of the economy. The Obama administration believes spending money on green initiates to be a cost-effective way to revitalize the American economy and help reduce pollution and toxicity levels.
A new work force is being born as stimulus money flows and green projects take root. Kansas City-area green projects include the following:
• Kansas City recently received a $4.8 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to improve energy efficiency throughout the city. Projects include installing light emitting diode (LED) lights in traffic signals and building a traffic signal synchronization center. About $1.6 million of the block grant will go toward a proposed $14.5 million project to improve energy efficiency in 14 city buildings, including City Hall, Bartle Hall, and the Bartle Hall Conference Center. Project managers estimate the upgrades on the 14 buildings will save $1.39 million a year and create 250 jobs.
• Kansas City recently applied for $4 million of stimulus money from the DOE to buy 152 alternative-fuel vehicles. The proposal includes a $4.87 million local match, paid for through the vehicle replacement funds of the city’s water services and general services departments. The vehicles are expected to improve air quality, curtail dependency on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and save the city money.
• Kansas City metro area vehicle manufacturing companies received DOE stimulus grants to help produce hybrid and electric vehicles. Smith Electric Vehicles won a $10 million stimulus grant to build and deploy as many as 100 electric vehicles. Ford Motor Co. received $30 million to help manufacture plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in Kansas City and Michigan.
• Seven Kansas City-area storm-water projects will receive nearly $3.1 million combined from the ARRA act. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment chose the projects to receive the stimulus money, the agency said. Congress requires the projects to be under construction by Feb. 17, 2010.
Former KC mayor and current U.S. Rep Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.) has articulated a broader view for how the green stimulus money should be spent in Kansas City. Cleaver proposes establishing a “Green Impact Zone,” in which federal dollars would spur renewal dilapidated areas by creating a program to put residents to work weatherizing thousands of neighborhood homes. Cleaver envisions a 150-block “Green Impact Zone” in Kansas City’s core urban area.
In April the KC city council formally committed itself to funding the Green Impact Zone. By Sept. 1, 2009, Obama Administration officials were touring the Kansas City zone and proclaiming the project a model for the rest of the country.
Green solutions are burgeoning. Twelve years ago the Clinton administration pledged to provide tax incentives to build a million solar roofs on U.S. buildings by 2010—an American green dream that was deferred by the gas-guzzling Bush administration, but then made reality by Gov. Schwarzenegger in California. Now the Obama administration offers an even a simpler “green” solution to save money and energy. Climate guru, Steven Chu, the U.S. Energy Secretary, a Nobel Laureate in Physics, advocates painting a million roofs white to reflect sunlight and save on air-conditioning energy.
