NYT: Sacramento has announced a new program to help finance energy-saving upgrades for buildings like adding insulation, replacing old windows, installing high-efficiency heating and cooling systems or adding rooftop solar panels.
Owners of homes or commercial buildings will incur no upfront costs for taking part in the program, Clean Energy Sacramento, but will gradually pay back the financing in installments on their property tax bills. The city’s program will be one of the largest in the country based on this approach, known as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, financing, said Stacey Lawson, the chief executive of the company that will manage the program for the city, Ygrene.
Sacramento has set a goal to reduce its energy use by 15 percent by 2020. The program will open with $22 million already committed to upgrades, Ms. Lawson said in a telephone interview. Read full story.