PACE across the country is picking up speed, and so is the HERO program, which provides PACE financing for energy retrofits for California homeowners. A recent announcement highlights the importance of PACE for job creation:
Officials at the HERO Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program today announced that more than 10,000 local jobs have been created in California through HERO projects completed in more than 50,000 homes since the program launched in December 2011. HERO financing enables homeowners to make energy- and water-efficiency improvements and to pay for them over time through their property tax bill. This financing may have tax benefits and homeowners may see immediate savings on utility bills. New jobs created by the program are primarily for contractor services in the clean-energy economy in communities throughout the state.
“What we set out to do in communities throughout California was provide an option for homeowners to affordably choose energy efficiency, renewable energy, or water conserving products when they made needed repairs,” said J.P. McNeill, CEO of Renovate America, the company that administers the HERO Program. “We’ve now done that for 50,000 homeowners—and in turn more than 10,000 new jobs have been created in California.”
The HERO program has also created significant energy savings for customers:
In addition to creating jobs, the 50,000 homeowners will save an estimated $2.2 billion on lower utility bills, conserve 7.8 billion kWh of energy, reduce emissions by 2.1 million tons or the of equivalent taking 400,000 SUVs off the road for a year, and save more than 2.9 billion gallons of water or the equivalent of 92 million showers.