The City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability was awarded a $1.2 million Department of Energy (DOE) grant last month to support three San Antonio sustainability projects.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) will be used to fund a $1,000 rebate program for low-income residents to purchase electric bikes, install new electric vehicle charging stations in Opportunity Home multifamily residences, and develop the San Antonio International Airport’s Energy Master Plan.
The EECBG is a national grant program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was passed in 2021.
Adam Guzzo. a project manager for the EECBG at the DOE, explained the program’s goal.
“The purpose is to reduce energy use, reduce emissions, and increase energy efficiency in their communities, but they can do that in a variety of ways,” he said.
Douglas Melnick, the city’s Chief Sustainability Officer, said his favorite project the grant is funding is the e-bike rebate program.
“[W]e know many of our low-income residents have challenges with mobility,” Melnick said. “The city is set up around the automobile and many people don’t have or can’t afford one.”
He said the Office of Sustainability is working with the city’s public housing agency Opportunity Home to identify a pool of residents who would be eligible for the rebates, which would pay for the vast majority of the cost for a lower-end e-bike. He said he thought e-bikes could make a difference for low-income residents without a vehicle.
“E-bikes have been shown to provide really great mobility options for residents, and focusing on low-income residents can help support increasing mobility to jobs, to services and resources,” Melnick said.
How residents will be chosen is still being determined, but Melnick said he expects purchases with the rebates will begin by the end of the year after that is settled and after interested bike shops have submitted their proposals to be part of the program.
Around 170 residents will receive the rebate.
The EV charging station program will involve six new Level 2 charging stations at Opportunity Home multifamily residences across the city. Melnick said a lack of access to charging infrastructure is a major barrier to purchasing EVs, but that access to charging stations alone is obviously not enough.
“There’s still a gap for many of our residents to even be able to afford to own an EV,” Melnick said. “So we’re investigating other models to potentially get our low-income residents access to EVs, whether it’s through ownership or some sort of EV car share model, but I think this is the first step in ensuring that we’re expanding the availability of EV charging for everyone in the city.”
Melnick said he expects charger installation to begin by the spring of 2025.
The airport’s Energy Master Plan is an effort to make it more energy efficient and energy resilient, which may explore options like how renewable energy sources or battery storage could work at the airport.
“When we look at the city organizations’ energy consumption, of course like everywhere, the airport is a top user, so anything we can do there is going to be a major impact,” Melnick said.
Guzzo said San Antonio’s award is part of $150 million that has already been awarded to government entities across the country.
He said there are still 95 government entities in Texas, including many in South Texas, which have not yet submitted applications to be awarded federal funding allocated for them to take for sustainability projects.
“We’re excited to partner with [them] similar in the way we’re doing with San Antonio,” Guzzo said.
