BGE targets energy efficiency

By Jamie Smith Hopkins | Sun reporter The rowhouses are boarded-up shells, roofs open to the elements. They're magnets for drug users, blights on their East Baltimore community. Energy-inefficient as all get-out. That's about to change. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. is giving $500,000 during the next five years to a nonprofit that will rehab the homes - 100 in all - for low-income buyers, complete with construction work and features designed to keep the cost down on monthly utility bills. The company plans to announce the donation, funded through the Constellation Energy Foundation, at an event today. As the price of oil, coal and other energy sources rapidly mounts, nonprofit builders for the working poor have refocused their efforts - wanting to make affordable not only the purchase or rental cost of a home but also the... [read full story]