PACE Now

PACE bonds are lent to property owners to finance energy efficiency and retrofits. The property owners pay the financing off over 20 years as an addition to their property taxes. This allows homeowners and commercial property owners to pay off energy efficiency upgrades at a low rate.

Goal of PACE: Improve the economics of modern renewable energy and energy efficiency

PACE, or Property Assessed Clean Energy Bonds, are backed by the federal government. This gives them security while thrusting America's investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency forward. Current estimates place PACE bonds in excess of $500 billion. That is a lot of capital for a new industry.

If effective, the PACE program will:

• Create jobs
• Accelerate energy independence and the green revolution

Property owners will benefit through decreasing energy bills and minimal up-front cost for the retrofits. It will also improve the return on investment, allowing the property owner to spend money in other areas of the economy.

States will benefit from reduced emissions and be free from liability of energy retrofits through the PACE program. This will hopefully free capital to be used to invest in public retrofits and electricity-grid upgrades.

Lenders will benefit from a reduced risk. Currently, 97% of property taxes are up-to-date and the losses are extremely minimal.

The PACE program is just one way the United States is finding creative ways to fund energy independence development. The cost of implementing clean, renewable energy is very costly, but with programs such as PACE, we can begin to make the necessary changes to achieve our energy goals.

Learn more about the PACE program:

• Legistlation Endorsers
• PACE Links

Rich Hessler
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SOLAR ENERGY BILL OF RIGHTS

Most traditionally think of solar as belonging in California, Texas and Florida. The solar revolution in the Northeast is changing that.

Northern states, just like southern states, can benefit from solar energy. Although the South can optain more energy from sunlight thanks to longer days and more intense radiation, the North can reap enough energy to make installing photovoltaic solar panels worth the investment.

Part of the Northern drive for solar comes from city rebates like Philadelphia's solar power tax credit. It is boosting interest in technology advances of solar, energy costs, and installation options.

A myth exists that solar would not work in the Northern states. How can this be true when Germany, the country with the most deployed photovoltaic solar panels, is farther north than Washington State, Minnesota, and Maine? As it turns out, solar is viable anywhere that is not subject to frequently cloud days. Photovoltaic solar panels still work through the clouds, they just do not produce as much electricity.

This is just part of the green movement happening in the Northeast. This movement is being encouraged by the state governments. This is being done through tax credits: 30% federal tax rebate on solar systems and Pennsylvania State rebate program and the Philadelphia solar power tax credit. Also,rising energy costs are also encouraging consumers to go green. Thanks to economic changes and stimulus from the government, things are finally beginning to look green.

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SOLAR INCENTIVES DRIVE BUSINESSES GREEN

With current rebates and increasing energy prices, its no wonder businesses are jumping on pv solar systems.

Strobist HQ, a company in Maryland, recently installed a photovoltaic solar system. Unfortunately for the company, they have enough roofspace to off-set only half of their electricity with photovoltaics.

After being on the fence for going solar, four factors pushed them over: the federal tax credit, maryland state rebate, property tax rebate, and the ability to sell renewable energy credits. After looking at the total cost of the system, which with the rebates would knock off 70% of the cost, not going solar would be a terrible idea.

With this investment, they have locked in half of their energy costs for the next 30 years and have provided the building with renewable electricity for the next few centuries.

Solar panels lose their rated performance after 30-35 years, but will continue to generate electricity for centuries.

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NEW JERSEY MEDICAL CENTER REDUCTIONS

The Jersey Shore University Medical center has received an LEED status for green design and energy-efficiency features.

Many property owners in New Jersey are taking advantage of the state's renewable energy incentives to increase energy efficiency, reducing the demand for electricity.

A $300 million expansion of Jersey Shore University Medical Center, including energy-saving components, will decrease the overall cost (and environmental toll), of the Medical Center on the environment.

The biggest piece of energy-efficiency is a $20 million investment for a utility plant that provides heating, cooling, and the backup generator for both buildings of the University Medical Center. Another retrofit comes from a SmartStart state program grant foran electric chiller.

Innovations like this are what save new construction money and help to reduce our environmental impact on the earth. Many people look at these as investments which will pay for themselves (and create large amounts of savings over their lifetimes). By paying money for a 4-MW cogenerator, which recycles heat to produce electricity from steam, helps the hospital to drastically reduce the amount of electricity it is required to buy (from 6 MW to 2 MW).

The project has made enough of the Medical Facility energy efficient that it has received a Gold LEED status award.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the United States'national green building ranking system. The hospital is currently looking into solar panels to generate the rest of its electricity.

It is energy investments like this that will help to curve our impact on the earth we share. By reducing electricity consumption, we are directly reducing emissions.

Rich Hessler
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RETROFIT DETROIT WITH SOLAR ROOFS

Michigan governor signs solar bill to retrofit Detroit rooftops with photovoltaic solar panels to meet 20% carbon emissions reductions by 2020.

After a year and a half of depressing news, Detroit was ready for this. The governor signed a bill that willl place solar panels on roofs of detroit buildings costing as little as $6,000. This bill has two purposes.

1. Reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020
2. Create jobs for one of the hardest hit states

The estimated growth of the state economy from the measure: $25 billion. The governor has budgeted $25 million for solar rebates. Much of this money will be used by DTE Energy, the local electricity company. It will pay residents to install photovoltaics on their roofs to stay complient with government standards of increasing the use of renewable energy.

Currently, the rebate pays $2,400 /KW installed. This is in addition to the 30% tax credit. These rebates can reduce the initial investmet of a solar system to $6,000.

Initially, renewable energy costs much more than fossil-fuel based energy. The only difference - the energy to create electricity is free with renewables, reducing the lifetime cost of the system. With a city that has been hit so hard with the rise of fuel costs, it's time to create an electricity grid that does not rely on fuel.

Rich Hessler
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LARGER REBATE FOR INSTALLING SOLAR

ESKOM increases the rebate for solar water heading systems.

ESKOM has substantially increased the rebated offered on solar water heating. This is a response to the Minister of Energy's call for solar to become a greater force to alleviate the electricity requirements of the country.

The new rebates allow the payback period to be only 5 years, a huge reduction! This represents an increase of 100% from the previous solar payback period.

Hopefully, this change in rebates will increase the interest in solar hot water.

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SOLAR ENERGY BILL OF RIGHTS

The Solar Energy Bill of Rights were created to define the rights of Americans to install photovoltaic solar systems on their homes and for the solar industry to have equal competition amongst energy companies.

To secure a policy environment that allows solar energy to compete and empowers consumers to choose, Rhone Resch declared today, October 27, 2009, in the City of Anaheim, California, a Solar Bill of Rights:

We declare these rights not on behalf of our companies, but on behalf of our customers and our country. We seek no more than the freedom to compete on equal terms and no more than the liberty for consumers to choose the energy source they think best.

1. Americans have the right to put solar on their homes or businesses. Restrictive covenants, onerous connection rules, and excessive permitting and inspections fees prevent many American homes and businesses from going solar.
2. Americans have the right to connect their solar energy system to the grid with uniform national standards. This should be as simple as connecting a telephone or appliance. No matter where they live, consumers should expect a single standard for connecting their system to the electric grid.
3. Americans have the right to Net Meter and be compensated at the very least with full retail electricity rates. When customers generate excess solar power utilities should pay them consumer at least the retail value of that power.
4. The solar industry has the right to a fair competitive environment. The highly profitable fossil fuel industries have received tens of billions of dollars for decades. The solar energy expects a fair playing field, especially since the American public overwhelmingly supports the development and use of solar.
5. The solar industry has the right to equal access to public lands. America has the best solar resources in the world, yet solar companies have zero access to public lands compared to the 45 million acres used by oil and natural gas companies.
6. The solar industry has the right to interconnect and build new transmission lines. When America updates its electric grid, it must connect the vast solar resources in the Southwest to population centers across the nation.
7. Americans have the right to buy solar electricity from their utility. Consumers have no choice to buy clean, reliable solar energy from their utilities instead of the dirty fossil fuels of the past.
8. Americans have the right, and should expect, the highest ethical treatment from the solar industry. Consumers should expect the solar energy industry to minimize its environmental impact, provide systems that work better than advertised, and communicate incentives clearly and accurately.

Marymount High School Installs Solarbrellas

A local high school in Los Angeles goes green by installing photovoltaic (PV) solar umbrellas, Solarbrellas, to power computers.

SKYShades Solarbrellas, each of which produces over 600 watts of electricity from the sun, are being installed at Marymount High School to power students' laptops. After a recent initiative, to give every student in the preparatory school a laptop computer, the school looked into green ways to power the instruments.

SKYShades Solarbrellas came to the rescue. Four Solarbrellas will be installed across the expanive campus and is part of the Marymount High School Green Team. Each Solarbrella uses an Organic-based Photovoltaic Solar Panel to produce electricity from sunlight. Since they are organic-based, the Solarbrellas are recycleable. They are predicted to produce enough electricity to power four laptops for 9 hours a day.

This step of becoming green will help to educate students and faculty about the benefits of renewable technology and hopefully encourage the entire community to take steps to become greener. In addition, some of the science corriculum will be shifted to educating the youth on renewable energy. The Solarbrellas will provide students with a perfect, visible example of renewable energy at work.