Ever wonder how much insulation and weather-stripping $59 million would buy?

South Carolina is about to find out.

Federal stimulus money for green initiatives began pouring into South Carolina on Tuesday, including unprecedented funding for weatherizing homes, improving the energy efficiency of schools and state buildings, and training people for "green collar" jobs.

"It's an exciting time to do energy stuff," said John Clark, state Energy Office director.

Public officials and nonprofit agencies are scrambling to create the infrastructure to handle all the money that will flow through the state government, more than $160 million for several different programs.

Clark said several state offices are working with South Carolina's system of technical colleges to create by this summer training programs where people can learn to perform the energy-efficiency work the federal dollars will fund.

The Weatherization Assistance Program will get more federal funding this year than in the past 10 years combined, enough to pay for improvements to at least 7,500 homes. The money is used to increase the energy efficiency of low-income households.

South Carolina also will receive about $9 million to train people for jobs related to energy efficiency, an estimated $41 million to fund energy conservation block grants for local governments, and several million dollars for rebates on energy-efficient appliances.

Most of the money is expected to be spent in 12 to 18 months.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley has said the city hopes to use some energy block grant money to help pay for the new Arthur C. Christopher Community Center, which has been designed to comply with green building certification programs. The city has already set aside $286,702 in stimulus money, from an increase in community development block grant funds, for the same building project.

"From the beginning, the building has been planned as a LEED-certified structure," said city Parks Department Deputy Director Matt Compton. "With the stimulus money, we're hoping to make it even more green."

The Weatherization Assistance Program in South Carolina will get $58.9 million, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

The State Energy Program will get $50.5 million, most of which would be used to make state offices and public schools, colleges and universities more energy-efficient.

"Taxpayers pay the utility bills on all these buildings," Clark said. "I'm confident the taxpayers will save three or four times the amount spent."

He said the state should have no trouble quickly spending the money to improve public buildings. In February, public schools and colleges were asked to provide lists of energy-efficiency projects they would like to do, and submitted about $300 million worth of projects.

The weatherization money could be a bit tougher to quickly spend, officials said. There's great need for the work, and plenty of households that qualify, but the organizations that handle the program don't now have enough trained staff. The Charleston County Human Services Commission runs the program in Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties.

Last year, when the state received less than $1.8 million for weatherization, the commission had three employees doing the work. This year, statewide funding jumped to $10 million, and the commission hired six more workers.

Now, the state's about to get another $59 million to spend over the next year and a half.

"What we are hoping is that the agencies can work with nonprofit groups and private contractors to get all that work done," said Arnold Collins, executive director of the commission. "We've got people in need."

The weatherization program is for households with incomes of up to 200 times the federal poverty limit, which amounts to $44,100 for a family of four.

The U.S. Department of Energy says the typical weatherization job reduces a household's yearly energy bills by $350.

For those who don't meet income limits for free weatherization work, the stimulus bill includes a rebate program for the purchase of new energy-efficient appliances, and tax-benefits for energy-efficient home improvements.

Clark said the state is waiting for federal guidelines and rules on some of the programs, but expects they will all be in place later this month or in April.

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