The money comes from state and federal grants designed to help communities implement conservation projects.

SMUD’s Ali Crawford says some of the money will be used to develop what she calls “green academies” at local community colleges.

“…green jobs around retrofitting residential homes and training workforce particularly the construction industry which has been so hard hit so that they can find new employment with all of the new opportunities that are going to be made available.” 

Crawford says SMUD will also use the grant money to perform energy efficiency audits and home retrofits to 15,000 homes over the next two-years.

The grants are funded through the California Energy Commission’s State Energy Program and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.