Repealed or Renumbered

Persons responsible for the maintenance of public buildings designed with energy conservation or production features shall be trained by the department in the use and operation of those features.

(a) Each state agency shall to the greatest extent practicable recycle reusable materials, including but not limited to, paper, glass, and cans.

(b) The Department of Environmental Conservation shall encourage, through cooperative means, the adoption of all available and practicable methods throughout federal, state, and local governments that recycle, reuse, and conserve materials.

(a) All public facilities of the state, the construction of which begins after July 1, 1980, shall be designed to comply with the thermal and lighting energy standards adopted by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities under AS 44.42.020 (a)(14).

(b) By June 30, 1988, all public facilities of the state existing on July 1, 1980 shall be modified, to the extent economically feasible, to comply with the thermal and lighting energy standards adopted by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities under AS 44.42.020(a)(14).

(a) After December 31, 1980, a financial institution shall take into consideration the economic benefits of alternative energy systems, life-cycle energy costs, energy efficient building design, and energy conservation when financing homes and buildings with state financial assistance.

(b) After December 31, 1980, a financial institution that makes home mortgage loans with money provided to it by the commissioner of revenue from surplus state general fund investments authorized by AS 37.10.070 , or a state agency that makes a direct home mortgage loan to an applicant, shall include estimated heating and lighting costs as determined by an energy audit in standard principal, interest, taxes, and insurance calculation of the cost of buying a housing unit. An applicant for a home mortgage loan shall provide the financial institution or the state agency with a copy of an energy audit.

State financial assistance may not be approved or granted for the construction of or purchase of a loan for a residential building if construction of the building began after December 31, 1991, unless

(1) the building is in compliance with thermal and lighting energy standards;

(2) the building is in compliance with the building code of a municipality and the standards for thermal and lighting energy of the municipal building code meet or exceed the thermal and lighting energy standards;

(3) the building

(A) is constructed under an exception to the municipal building code granted because the exception will result in increased energy efficiency; or

(B) is located or is to be located in an area where thermal and lighting energy standards are not justified because of the high cost of implementation of the standards, with specific consideration given to the availability of inexpensive home heating energy sources, as determined under regulations adopted by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation; or

(4) the applicant agrees, in writing, that the building will be brought into compliance with thermal and lighting energy standards within one year of conveyance.

(a) In consultation with the Department of Education and Early Development, the Department of Environmental Conservation shall establish a waste reduction and recycling awards program under which the Department of Environmental Conservation may annually, subject to available funding, award grants of up to $2,000 each to public schools in recognition of their efforts and the efforts of their students to reduce and recycle waste generated in the administrative offices, classrooms, laboratories, cafeterias, and maintenance operations of the schools.

(b) The Department of Environmental Conservation shall, on request, provide technical assistance to schools concerning their opportunities to reduce and recycle wastes.

(c) The Department of Environmental Conservation shall adopt regulations to implement the awards program. For purposes of evaluating school waste reduction and recycling programs, the department may group schools according to geographical location, student population, distance to recycling markets, or other criteria considered appropriate by the department.

(d) The Department of Environmental Conservation may accept and use restricted grants of money or other assistance from private persons or groups to fund the awards made under (a) of this section.

(e) The Department of Environmental Conservation may not use state money to fund awards made under (a) of this section unless an appropriation is made specifically for the purposes of (a) of this section.