Efficiency Financing Options
Energy Biz, December 4, 2013Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing has grown since its 2008 start as a solar financing tool, to include energy efficiency projects. PACE allows local government to administer efficiency loans using private capital and the jurisdiction’s property tax system. Local taxing agencies assume new responsibilities, in between private lenders and private property owners.
Also since 2008, the benefits of energy efficiency have been documented in numerous reports from a wide range of sources. For example, the often-mentioned “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the US Economy” (July, 2009, McKinsey & Company) concludes: “Energy efficiency offers a vast, low-cost energy resource for the U.S. economy, but only if the nation can craft a comprehensive and innovative approach to unlock it”. Efficiency is cast as a valuable resource, and a solution to “energy affordability, energy security, and greenhouse gas reduction”. A summary of the McKinsey Report is available through the US Energy Information Agency:http://www.eia.gov/conference/2010/session9/granade.pdf