One long-standing program that provides a means by which an entity can get capital for energy efficiency projects is known as the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. PACE allows local governments to issue bonds to property owners that finance energy retrofits at their facilities, which they and back over a period years. However, entities with significant building portfolios and energy intensive operations like local governments lacked a similar avenue to achieve the same savings – until now, that is.
The new legislation Gov. Snyder recently signed now allows cities, villages, governing bodies, townships and commissioners to finance energy conservation improvements. These improvements include heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) improvements, roof improvements, insulation, entrance or exit closure, software designed to promote energy conservation and municipal utility improvements.