Vice President Joe Biden kicked off the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in 2010 with the announcement of $454 million in Recovery Act funding being awarded to 25 communities nationwide to “ramp-up” energy-efficiency retrofits in homes and commercial buildings. The City of Portland and state of Oregon received $20 million to develop Clean Energy Works Oregon, which gives building owners and homeowners the opportunity to pay back energy-efficiency loans on their utility bills or property taxes. Over the past year, Energy Trust developed a pilot for this energy-efficiency delivery model with the City of Portland called Clean Energy Works Portland, and was a key collaborator in developing the federal grant proposal.