Los Angeles, Calif. – The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) honored the HERO PACE financing program, the Western Riverside Council of Governments and San Bernardino Associated Governments as its Clean Air Award Winner for 2014 in the category of Model Community. SCAQMD is the air pollution control agency for all Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
According to the SCAQMD, the Clean Air Award “honors the visionaries in our region who have helped in the fight for clean air through innovation, leadership and exemplary service.”
HERO is a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program. It allows homeowners to finance energy- and water-efficiency improvements through their property tax payments. Homeowners can choose the term of their loan (5-20 years), and interest on the payments is tax deductible. Additionally, PACE assessments transfer to the new owner when the home is sold in most cases.
HERO launched in Western Riverside County in 2011 and was made available to San Bernardino County homeowners shortly thereafter. To date, 192 cities and counties, representing 16 million people, have made HERO available to their residents. HERO has funded improvements which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 568,000 tons, the equivalent of removing 300,000 passenger vehicles from the road for one year. HERO has also created more than 2,600 local jobs in California. Read more.