The Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), a sub association of the Alliance to Save Energy and other renewable energy supporters, is hosting a competition to promote community energy programs throughout Southeastern states. The competition is a formal proposal process where cities and counties within Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia compete for $500,000 to be applied to the winner’s or series of winners’ community alliance for energy efficiency.

SEEA has launched this effort to promote energy efficiency in the Southeast, to “mobil[ize] the City’s citizens and leaders of its institutions and businesses,” and to encourage collaboration between state decision markers and city and county staff to deliver energy efficiency to customers, according to SEEA's Request for Proposal.

To qualify for consideration, a city or county must show that they have local stakeholder and community support for launching energy efficiency programs, establish achievable milestones, be in tune with the locale’s energy needs and opportunities, a funding commitment from local or city-owned utility companies, identify program implementation partners, establish or designate a non-profit oversight organization, and most of all, draft an official letter of intent signed off by stakeholders, utility companies, and all other interested parties that the community is committed to carrying out the energy efficiency program and alliance established through the proposal process.

The proposal accomplishes two much-needed, empowering goals: to require community and customer support, and to help communities dream-up energy efficiency strategies. It is vital that customers are eager for energy efficiency programs as they stand to save money during a recession as well as support a transfer to cleaner energy supplies. Without community support during the proposal phase, implementation can be stunted by a lack of interest in the programs.

Additionally, SEEA’s competition goes hand-in-hand or, watt-for-watt, with the national stimulus and bailout packages where money will be available for communities to offer tax incentives for energy efficiency design and retrofitting in homes and buildings. Before that money is available to states and cities, SEEA is driving communities to have a well-developed plan on how to best apply government money setting Southeastern communities on a successful energy efficiency implementation track. Awarding money to plan energy efficiency programs means that the government money available for these programs is used for just that, not for bureaucratic tendencies, a perfect example of simlutaneously achieving energy and money efficiency.