STATE OF NEBRASKA


Mike Johanns
Governor

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
P.O. Box 94848
Lincoln, Nebraska  68509-4848                  
Phone:  (402) 471-2244

May 12, 2000

Dear Nebraskans:

The Energy Office, as detailed in this Annual Report, performs a surprising array of activities that lessens our citizens' reliance on fossil fuels today and tomorrow.

The Energy Office reached a number of milestones in the 1998-1999 fiscal year:

  • The agency financed its 15,000th residential home improvement project during the reporting period. Since 1990, the agency has helped finance more than $81.8 million worth of residential energy efficiency improvements for Nebraskans. These improvements - primarily new furnaces, air-conditioners, windows, siding, roofs and insulation - have been financed with $39.4 million in oil overcharge trust funds and loan repayments and $42.3 million from the state's banks, savings and loans, credit unions and borrowers. In 1999 alone, the agency financed 1,109 projects totaling more than $10.7 million. Looking at Dollar and Energy Saving Loans made to date from a geographic perspective, almost 75 percent of the dollars financed projects outside Lincoln and Omaha.
  • Twenty years have elapsed since the agency weatherized the first home of a low income Nebraskan. In December 1999, the agency weatherized its 50,000th home - which belongs to a disabled, elderly Nebraskan in Trenton. Since 1979, $73.81 million has been spent on this federally-funded effort. Geographically, 63 percent of the homes receiving weatherization improvements were located outside the metropolitan areas of the state.
  • The agency's leading building efficiency initiative, Rebuild Nebraska, is a partnership with two of the state's largest utilities and community leaders. Over the past two years, the agency has re-focused the effort to maximize efficiency through a community-based approach. During the last year, Rebuild activities were concentrated in Fillmore and Otoe counties, Wayne, Alliance and Geneva.

The agency continues to provide support for the state's efforts to increase production and use of ethanol within Nebraska and elsewhere.

A complete review of the agency's activities, past and current energy trends and relevant Nebraska energy use statistics can be found in this Annual Report. It is with pleasure that I present it to you.

Sincerely,


MIKE JOHANNS
Governor

 

 

 

 

 

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