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Chicago, Rockford, and suburbs to benefit from $25 million federal stimulus grant for energy-efficient retrofits of commercial and residential buildings.

Award to Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will build a marketplace with incentives for private investment and government coordination.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, April 21, 2010 -- Businesses and residents of northeastern Illinois -- including
Chicago, Rockford, and suburbs -- will benefit from federal stimulus incentives to create a regional
marketplace for improving energy efficiency of buildings. The $25 million award was announced today by Vice President Joe Biden as one of 25 projects funded nationally by the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) “Retrofit Ramp-up” initiative.

Building retrofits can include installation of more-efficient heating and cooling systems, insulation and lighting, weather sealing, and windows or doors. One goal of the project is to provide every homeowner
and business owner in the region with information to make decisions about how to improve their buildings’
energy performance.

The regional collaboration is led by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), in partnership
with the City of Chicago and the City of Rockford, with support from suburban and regional stakeholders.
The three-year award to CMAP will help the emerging retrofit market make the transition to a fully
developed commercial sector by creating efficiencies on a broad regional scale.

“For the hundreds of municipalities in m etropolitan Chicago and beyond to Roc kford, this w ill jump-start
efforts to save money and energy,” s aid Randy Blankenhorn, CMAP executive director. “The inter-
governmental cooperation is extremely significant, as is the potential for long-term economic benefits.

With these more-recent stimulus awards, the federal government is demonstrating the importance of
regional collaboration to create jobs and ad dress major challenges l ike energy consumption.”

Called the Chicago Region Retrofit Ramp-Up (CR3), the project will:

Leverage the $25 million federal investment with about $300 million in private capital.

Create more than 2,000 jobs (e.g., construction contractors, installers, energy auditors).

Result in more than 9,500 building retrofits.

Enable average energy savings of 30 percent per retrofit building.

At present, contractors interested in retrofit work have difficulty finding customers that are eligible for
subsidies and government or private programs that have available funds. Because financing options are
currently limited, the grant will develop and initially fund financial mechanisms -- for example, revolving
loan funds -- that can eventually be sustained by market forces within the region.

The CR3 project will help match suppliers and contractors with consumers to facilitate retrofits on a broad regional scale. The current rate of market penetration remains small, project organizers say, with less than 1 percent of eligible buildings having been retrofit. By providing mechanisms for financing and
information sharing, CR3 partners can accelerate the pace of retrofits, while creating jobs and helping
businesses, residents, units of government, and other stakeholders to save costs.

The result will be a sustainable system in which suppliers can quickly respond to consumer demand for
retrofits with consistent, efficient, and affordable solutions. The project covers 4,000 square miles in nine
counties (the CMAP region of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will, plus Roc kford’s
Boone and Winnebago counties), which have more than 8 million residents.

The project will increase access to capital by developing new financing mechanisms and funding pilot
programs. A portion of the grant will fund a broad-based marketing campaign to educate consumers.

Contributing to a trained workforce is also a priority. CR3 will create certification standards for retrofit
contractors, while working with educators to promote consistent training curricula. The effort will also
enable CMAP to hire a workforce intermediary to connect trained workers with contractors.

“This historic collaboration will help us achieve long-term, sustainable results,” said City of Rockford
Mayor Lawrence J. Morrissey. “Energy efficiency retrofits mean jobs and savings for our citizens and
businesses. We are thankful for the federal investment and our regional partnership with Chicago. This is
a great model for our future.”

The award is one of just 25 nationally for up to $452 million in DOE Retrofit Ramp-up funds through the
American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA, known as the federal stimulus). DOE estimates that the stimulus will leverage an estimated $2.8 billion from other sources over the next three years to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the country. DOE received requests for over $3.5 billion -- eight times more than the available funds -- indicating significant nationwide demand for investment in energy-saving and job-creating projects like these.

Because few residential and commercial property owners understand the potential for significant savings
through energy efficiency -- even as many struggle to avoid foreclosure -- retrofit and utility assistance
providers have trouble penetrating the market. CR3 will develop a comprehensive information system to educate property owners and to facilitate connections between suppliers and consumers.

CMAP is in the final months of developing the
GO TO 2040 comprehensive regional plan, whose implementation will begin in October 2010. Conservation of energy and other resources will be a high priority among CMAP’s recommendations to guide growth and infrastructure investments through mid- century and beyond.