SanJoseGreenHome.com

So you’ve heard about it, with the passing of PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) , many homeowners, municipalities and home performance contractors had great expectations of easy and accessible financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy installations.  However, something happened…  Call it a glitch but PACE, as of today, is still not available.  There is a solution though.  Keep reading… 

An innovative tool for financing, PACE provided a solution to declining home values in much of the nation by offering financing that the homeowner repaid as a tax assessment rather than a mortgage lien.  PACE Programs were active or soon to be implemented in California and 22 other states.  

However, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that regulates Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, declared that the PACE programs presented “significant safety and soundness concerns” to the housing finance industry on July 6, 2010.  This declaration closed the door on PACE funding.  Even though legislation and lawsuits are still pending against the FHFA, no funding is expected to be available before the end of the year from any PACE program.  Talk about taking the wind out of one’s sails. 

Although PACE funding is now unavailable homeowners still have many options. There are many (more…)

First off, a few burning questions… Have high upfront costs derailed your renewable energy or energy efficiency projects? Would receiving positive cash flow from day one make your clean energy project more attractive? Are you worried that it may be difficult to recoup your investment in clean energy if you sell your property?

To resolve these issues and accelerate the implementation of energy upgrades to commercial and residential property, cities and counties across the nation are offering PACE, a new financing model for clean energy projects.

To learn more about how PACE works and how it can benefit businesses and homeowners, I recently spoke with Dennis Tsu, who manages Business Development for Commercial PACE with Renewable Funding. Based in Oakland, Renewable Funding is the leader in the turnkey administration of PACE programs.

What is PACE?

William Dinkel: Could you please provide a brief summary of PACE programs for our readers?

Dennis Tsu: First off, PACE is an acronym for Property Assessed Clean Energy. The basic concept is to allow residential and commercial property owners to borrow money from their local governments to use for making energy efficiency or alternative energy improvements to their properties, and then to pay that money back through a (more…)