Resources for the Future is hosting a seminar on PACE

From 2008 to 2010 a handful of Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs offered property-secured loans to homeowners for residential clean energy investments. This analysis uses difference-in-differences models and synthetic counterfactual models to estimate the effect of three California PACE programs on residential photovoltaic installations. We find that PACE financing increases solar installations by approximately 3.8 watts per owner occupied household per quarter, a 108% increase over the mean watts per owner-occupied household. Because PACE financing carries equal or higher interest rates relative to alternative financing mechanism, we argue that PACE programs can address market barriers and help address the energy-efficiency gap.