Funding to Reduce Municipal Emissions

Nine Nova Scotia municipalities will measure the energy used by their operations and find ways to reduce it with financial help from the Nova Scotia Municipal Clean Air and Climate Change program.

The funding will help municipalities conduct audits of energy use and related air emissions to identify the best ways to cut emissions, which could lead to more municipal program funding. The program is part of the Nova Scotia Ecotrust for Clean Air and Climate Change.

"We are working with municipalities to increase energy efficiencies that help reduce greenhouse-gas and air-pollutant emissions," said Mark Parent, Minister of Environment. "We are committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to at least 10 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and to significant drops in air-pollutant levels by 2010."

Funding applications were reviewed and recommended by an intergovernmental panel with expertise in emissions reductions and economic development.

"I am very pleased with the applications we've received so far,” said Richard Hurlburt, Minister of Energy. "We look forward to more municipal units coming forward with their plans to reduce energy consumption."

These municipal program grants are the first of nine rounds of grants from the Nova Scotia Ecotrust for Clean Air and Climate Change, which was developed with the federal government.

The municipal program will contribute a total of $68,521 to nine projects with a combined cost of $96,092. More support for larger projects will be announced in the near future.

Municipalities and towns receiving the first round of funding from the program are: Antigonish, Berwick, Bridgetown, Digby, Kentville, Kings County, Parrsboro, Trenton and Wolfville.

The province's goal is to have all municipal units complete an emissions inventory and audit. The nine latest projects will increase the total to 16.

To apply for funding from the municipal program or for more information, visit the EcoTrust website at www.gov.ns.ca/ecotrust .