Jul 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Scott Harper The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.


The trickle-down effect has begun, with Virginia expected to soon get tens of millions of federal-stimulus dollars for energy conservation and green energy projects.

At an energy summit Friday at Hampton University, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner announced that Virginia will receive more than $94 million alone to help weatherize low-income housing across the state, and that $37 million had just been released from Washington.

In addition, Warner said, the U.S. Department of Energy has accepted a state plan to appropriate another $76 million in grants, loans and rebates for alternative energy projects and others aimed at decreasing fossil fuels and increasing green jobs.

"We're going to really see the money flow now," said state director of energy Steve Walz. "You can expect to see the on-the-ground effects in the energy field pretty quickly."

Warner, a Democrat, endorsed the stimulus plan pushed by President Barack Obama and approved by Congress in February. He said it represents a harbinger of a new economic revolution, one based on clean energy, low-carbon fuels and environmental engineering.

"If the '80s were about telecommunications and the '90s about the Internet, I think the next 20 years will be all about green energy," Warner said after a keynote speech to nearly 500 attendees at the summit.

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