The City of Knoxville's Solar America Cities Project is featured in an article on the Interstate Renewable Energy Council's website and in IREC's State and Stakeholder Newsletter this week.

The story looks at what the program has accomplished in the short time it has been in existence and what its future goals are.

It follows on the heels of a New York Times article on energy efficiency efforts that highlighted the City of Knoxville's ongoing work to lower energy consumption, costs and emissions that ran in February.

Knoxville was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as a Solar America City last year - one of only three cities in the Southeast to earn the designation. As a result the city has received more than $500,000 in grant funding and technical assistance to help reduce the barriers to the local generation of solar power by helping to create a sustainable solar infrastructure here in Knoxville.

The city has already held two workshops - including the recent "Solar for Your Business" workshop that drew more than 75 business owners and employees - outlining how businesses and residents can install and benefit from solar technology.

IREC was founded in 1982 to help increase the use of renewable energy sources and technology. According to its website IREC supports programs aimed at helping connect small-scale renewable energy sources to the utility grid, establishing reliable credential programs for energy professionals and improving the flow of technical information to organizations, among other efforts.

The IREC article can be found at www.irecusa.org

More information about the City of Knoxville's Solar America Cities Project is available at www.cityofknoxville.org/solar/