With a weak economy and ever tightening budgets, families across America are struggling to pay their high utility bills. In an effort to help low-income families in his state, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has announced the creation of the Clean Energy Corps Pilot Program. Launched last week, the goal is to reduce energy costs in low-income households by assessing the need for energy improvements and making appropriate energy efficiency upgrades.

Since taking office in 2007, Gov. Beshear has made energy a top priority for his administration. Kentucky receives 90 percent of its electricity from the state's abundant coal supplies. Although coal is a leading source of carbon dioxide that causes global warming, Beshear knows that energy efficiency ups energy supply. More supply means two things: less carbon dioxide and cheaper energy. Less expensive energy will also reduce the economic cost of carbon emissions limits that the U.S. plans eventually to institute. In the short run, energy efficiency upgrades are an immediate source of clean, well-paying jobs. "Kentucky can be a national leader in energy technology and production," the governor said. "I intend to put this state on that path."

The Clean Energy Corps Pilot Program will include energy audits of 100 homes owned by low to moderate-income families in Lexington and rural Bourbon and Clark counties, an energy efficiency education, and energy savings tips. The mission of the program is to harness the resources of government, business, education and nonprofit sectors to make eligible homes 20-30 percent more energy efficient, saving low-income families money and thereby reducing the demand for utility assistance funds currently available to assist these families.

The Clean Energy Corps Pilot Program is a public/private partnership, with 80 percent of the funding coming from federal and state energy efficiency and low-income housing grant and loan programs. The remaining 20 percent will come from private contributions, both cash and in-kind, from individuals, corporations and organizations. Each household will also be evaluated as to its ability to use energy savings to repay all or some of the costs. Any repayments will be recycled to assist new families. The University of Kentucky and East Kentucky Power are serving as the state's key partners in the pilot project and the Beshear administration has estimated that each home will need $10,000 worth of repair and improvements.

The work on the homes will be completed by the staff of the Community Action Council and volunteers from the program's partner organizations. The partner organizations include Lexington, Bourbon and Clark Counties, local housing producers and advocates, University of Kentucky's Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment, faith-based organizations, and the state's utilities and rural cooperatives.

The long-term goal of the Clean Energy Corps Pilot Program is to help prepare and guide what is hoped to be a dramatic expansion of the Kentucky Clean Energy Corps in the coming months. The program hopes to expand to 10,000 homes across the commonwealth in the next year. Although the pilot program will be staffed completely by volunteers, with the success and expansion of the program a permanent staff would be required. The Beshear administration has estimated that 3,306 new green-collar jobs will be created in first year of the expanded program.

The Clean Energy Pilot Program is just one part of Gov. Beshear's comprehensive energy plan unveiled in November. The plan calls for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while creating 40,000 jobs tied to energy production and conservation between now and 2025.