Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley announced an initiative which would grant local governments and nonprofits up to $8 million in grants and loans in fiscal year 2010 to help pay for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, the Baltimore Business Journal reports.
The program will be managed by the Maryland Energy Administration and funded with a portion of the proceeds from the state's carbon-emission credit auctions.
Over the next year, the state expects to collect more than $94 million from the auctions to help fund energy efficiency, low-income energy assistance, rate relief for local energy consumers, and renewable energy efforts.
The state is one of the 31 states tracking GHG emissions by industry sector.
