Governor Donald L. Carcieri and the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources (OER) has awarded the State Building Commissioner a $250,000 contract to develop new energy efficient building codes mandated under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funds will be used for training local building officials and building contractors in the new codes, as well as for monitoring, enforcing and reporting compliance with codes according to ARRA requirements. The funds are part of the $23.6 million in Recovery funds the state received under the State Energy Program (SEP) portion of the Recovery Act.

Under ARRA, states use the SEP grant to address energy priorities and program funding to adopt emerging renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. The goals of the SEP are to increase energy efficiency, to reduce energy costs and consumption for consumers, businesses and government; reduce reliance on imported energy; improve the reliability of electricity and fuel supply and the delivery of energy services; and to reduce the impact of energy production and use on the environment.

In making the announcement, Ronald N. Renaud, Executive Director of the RI Department of Administration and overseer of the state energy office said, “Although this is a comparatively small sum of money, it is a critical first-step program and a marks a major milestone in our hard work and efforts to start distributing energy related stimulus funding into the Rhode Island economy.” Renaud went on to say, “This is just the start of much more to come in the very near future.”