Energy Conservation

Launched in October 2006, Seedco Financial's Energy Conservation Initiative introduced affordable housing green building techniques in Alabama for the first time. It was funded by the Home Depot Foundation. The Seedco Financial program helps affordable housing developers and contractors learn to build safer and healthier homes. The program gives participating developers a $3,750 grant for each housing unit, which covers the added costs of green building materials, inspection, and certification fees. With Southface Energy Institute—Responsible Solutions for Environmental Living, Seedco Financial also holds workshops and provides individualized technical assistance to help participants incorporate the principles of green building, and get their projects off the ground. The program has enabled savings for low-to-moderate income home owners and at the same time has reduced carbon dioxide emissions from energy usage.

"One of the strongest aspects of Seedco Financial's Alabama Affordable Green Initiative is that Seedco Financial provided grants along with green building and affordable housing training. These grants enabled us to implement the green building practices we learned in the training. This combination of training and the means to get it done is somewhat groundbreaking. We completed eight houses under one grant.

"These houses will generally perform 30-40 percent more efficiently than a typical house, which amounts to approximately $702 a year in savings. That's affordable housing that truly remains affordable. Being able to pass that along to consumers who need it most is pretty remarkable. Seedco Financial offers an extremely helpful tool to get better services for our clients."

Frank Dominick, Executive Director of Outreach Inc, a nonprofit affordable housing developer since 1992.

A second round of workshops has been completed in Alabama and the program also held workshops in Tennessee.