idea to encourage property owners to go solar, nobody had ever tried the
approach before. It worked. <\/strong>Participants installed solar and are
repaying the costs through their property tax bills. Larger programs in Boulder
County, Colo., and Sonoma County, Calif., have shown that administering PACE
programs at a larger scale is not only possible, but can reduce administrative
and financing costs. Across the country, more than 2,000 property owners have
now taken advantage of PACE programs.<\/p>\n
Bigger is better.<\/strong> Berkeley’s PACE pilot allowed that city to Programs should ensure that Some attrition is unavoidable in any voluntary program like Include a broad range of Nearly all PACE programs that are now coming online offer Berkeley stepped up to develop a <\/p>\n Editor’s note: The Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Will Sen. Jim Webb Fight for Clean Energy or Dirty Coal?<\/a><\/p>\n China’s changing energy economy<\/a><\/p>\n
learn what components work together to create a successful and sustainable
program. The City of Berkeley
has since opted to join a county-wide PACE program that was created in the wake
of the pilot. Alameda County’s program will make PACE financing available
to thousands of Berkeley
property owners, thus helping to reduce interest rates and bringing down
administrative costs for each participating property. The program is scheduled
to launch mid-summer 2010 as part of the statewide CaliforniaFIRST program.<\/p>\n
applicants are “ready to go.”<\/strong> In an
effort to make the program easily available to all property owners,
BerkeleyFIRST had a nominal $25 application fee and did not require that owners
have “shovel ready” projects with approved bids. Nor were property owners
required to commit to going forward with projects. While nearly everyone
installed a solar system or plans to do so, many property owners financed using
alternative means.<\/p>\n
PACE, especially as many people have faced dramatic and unexpected changes to
their financial situations in recent years. However, attrition can be managed
by adjusting application fees, requiring projects to be ready for installation,
and asking property owners to make a strong commitment to completing their
projects as part of the application process.<\/p>\n
eligible renewable-energy and energy-efficiency projects.<\/strong> Installing a
photovoltaic system on a home that is poorly insulated or sealed is a bit like
pouring water into a bucket that is full of holes. The Berkeley
program recognized this challenge by requiring homeowners to meet a basic
energy-efficiency standard to be eligible for financing their solar projects,
but in order to keep the pilot program simple, it did not help property owners
to pay for these improvements.<\/p>\n
funding for projects ranging from installing energy-efficient furnaces and
water heaters to improving insulation to covering solar or wind-power systems.
When Berkeley rolls out the next phase of its PACE financing through Alameda County, it will allow such improvements to be covered as well. This policy change will improve the economics of many projects as well as provide the opportunity for whole home energy retrofits.<\/p>\n
new model for financing renewables and energy efficiency. It—along with other pioneers like Babylon, N.Y., Boulder County, Colo., and
Sonoma County
and Palm Desert, Calif.—helped to pave the way to a more
energy-efficient future. The lessons learned from Berkeley’s pilot have helped tremendously in
our efforts to develop a flexible and sustainable PACE model.<\/p>\n
author’s for-profit company, Renewable Funding LLC, was the third-party administrator for
the BerkeleyFIRST program.<\/p>\n
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