Tag Archives: energy efficiency

Lots of Bay Area News

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U.S. Representative and  House Appropriator Mike Honda secured funding to the tune of $2 million towards extension of the BART system to Silicon Valley as part of the FY 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill. What is the “BART to Silicon Valley” project? It’s an extension of the existing BART system to Milpitas, San Jose, and Santa Clara starting from the future Warm Springs station in Fremont (along the eastern side of the South Bay).

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Google Energy has signed its first contract, a 20-year wind power contract in Iowa. Google will sell the electricity on the spot market and retire the associated renewable energy credits (RECs) – via TechCrunch.

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More people are freaking out about smart meters, but this time not in the Central Valley…

The Fairfax Town Council gave the nod to the creation of an ordinance that, if passed, would try to prevent PG&E from installing smart meters in Fairfax –  via the Marin Independent Journal.

The Marin Association of Realtors has issued a statement calling for a moratorium on its SmartMeter program due to concerns in three areas: concerns about overcharging, concerns about health effects from the radio waves, and concerns about PG&E imposing meters on folks that don’t want them – via the Marin Independent Journal.

The Marin Independent Journal also reports that the Marin supervisors have sent a letter to Michael Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), asking the CPUC to suspend PG&E’s SmartMeter rollout until a commission has reviewed the funtion of the meters and until the health implications of the electronic emissions from the wireless devices has been addressed…

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The Department of Energy announced yesterday that $122 million has been awarded to a team of scientists from California (including Lawrence Berkley National Lab) to establish an Energy Innovation Hub that will be focused on converting sunlight into liquid fuel.

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PACE Programs Here, and Gone

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This post is part of our ongoing focus on energy, water, waste and transportation issues relevant to California at large.

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photo credit: free foto.com

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs are being quickly halted due to a recent announcement by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that declared the investments potentially unsafe for lenders. The new and upcoming PACE programs being piloted and planned by cities and counties around the country would offer homeowners bond-backed loans for solar and other energy efficiency upgrades to homes.

Under most terms, the PACE loan (which is attached to the house itself, like an assessment) would have first priority for repayment ahead of the mortgage. This repayment structure provoked a warning pronouncement from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last month. Now the FHFA has dealt another blow by also warning lenders that the programs could prove risky- effectively halting operations for the time being.

Read more coverage on the FHFA’s PACE announcement in:

The Bond Buyer, The Huffington Post, and Greentech Media.

Stimulus Money for Energy Efficiency

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The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) will receive $20 million from the federal stimulus funds designated for California. The money will launch a Home Performance Program, which will offer HERS audits and energy upgrades to about 15,000 homes in SMUD territory. Because the program is expected to increase demand for trained contractors and auditors, SMUD will be working with the Sacramento Employment and Training agency and Los Rios Community College to develop training programs – via SMUD.

The California Energy Commission also approved $8 million for the County of Los Angeles, $3 million for the County of San Diego, and $1.9 million for the City of Fresno from Recovery Act Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants for residential energy retrofit programs – via Imperial Valley News.

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There’s a cool map of hotspots where water and energy are coming into conflict around the world –  IEEE Spectrum.

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There’s a new study from Arizona State University that analyzes the life cycle impact of swimming pools in nine cities in terms of their consumption of chemicals, water, and energy – via Environmental Science & Technology.

Problems for PACE Programs?

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An article in the New York Times today highlights problems that may arise for Property Assessed Clean Energy programs (initiated here in Berkeley in 2008).  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have warned lenders that “an energy efficiency lien may not be senior to any mortgage delivered” to the loan giants.

For at least one home in California, the lenders refused to approve a loan for the purchase of a home with heating and cooling systems financed through a program in Sonoma County.  The property tax assessment that was to cover the cost of the systems had to paid off before the lenders would issue a loan for the property.

The full New York Times article, with more information about PACE programs and implications for them and other property tax assessment programs, is here.

More information about PACE programs can be found here.