Gov. Charlie Crist weighs bill to help cities go green

Gov. Crist is reviewing a bill passed by the Legislature last month that would help establish a `green corridor' PACE program among several South Florida cities. The measure would allow the communities to purchase clean energy systems for residents' homes

BY HOWARD COHEN

Going green could extend to consumers' wallets if Cutler Bay Mayor Paul Vrooman's plan passes muster with the governor.

The program Vrooman has championed, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), enables property owners to borrow money to buy solar panels, wind generators, insulation or shutters for their homes with little upfront expense.

The program would establish a municipal ``green corridor,'' consisting of Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami and Coral Gables. The five cities would lend money for a homeowner to install a proven energy-saving device -- say, $30,000 in solar panels or $3,000 for solar plumbing.
In return, the cities would place a lien on the home until the loan was paid off by the homeowner, who would be assessed a monthly fee for the loan's duration.

Link to the rest of the Miami Herald story

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Well, there's a bunch the Herald got right and a bunch they totally munched with this story.  I know there's a drive to make all stories have a local angle, and there's a good one with what the cities in the southern part of  Miami-Dade are trying to do, but it isn't everything.  PACE is an umbrella name for using tax-bill financing to get around tight credit markets and the uncertainty of investing in something that may take longer to "pay back" than the homeowner may actually live there.  With Floridians notorious for uprooting themselves every half-dozen years, it is exceedingly difficult to get the average joe-homeowner to invest in their property beyond the granite countertop or whatever Realtor friendly improvement will immediately bump resale value.  So PACE is a tool to get past that since you don't have to settle the debt like you would with a second mortgage or other "traditional" financing vehicle.

Where the Herald totally goofed was mixing the "green corridor" idea with PACE.  The former is a way for small cities like Cutler Bay and its neighbors to bring enough volunteers together for the issuance of debt to start the latter.  That's it.

The County is also pursuing this.  I think there's a report out from the Mayor in response to a Commission directive to come up with a set of options on how to pursue a PACE program for those of us living in the unincorporated area and maybe even the cities.  I'll see if I can find it and will post that here as well.

Update: here's the link to the report.  Summary: County administration thinks PACE is a great idea but they want to bring in a company to do most of the work because of they're cutting budgets and jobs and they don't have the people to manage the program.

  

 

South Florida Business Journal: Florida’s popular solar rebate program may fade into the sunset

One step forward and two steps back.  Florida was close to catching up with the rest of the States that have been competing for new green solar energy jobs through tax incentives and through a mash of local programs.  The most effective tool in Florida's kit was the creation of the solar energy rebate program four years ago.  The program provided rebates worth about half of the installed cost of solar photovoltaic systems for homes and businesses and a token $500 rebate for solar thermal heating systems.

But, as usual, the Florida Legislature wouldn't let a good program last, and they neglected to put any funds into the program this year, leaving thousands of Floridians who already installed systems and awaiting rebates in the lurch.  The program would have probably died last year if the Governor and the Florida Energy Office hadn't squirreled away $10 million in Federal stimulus funds for the program.

What's really needed is a public benefits fund - a trust fund of sorts (protected better than the State operated trust fund) - that would be used to fund PV and solar thermal rebates for residents and small business installations.  It could fund testing and permit streamlining efforts and more.  Instead we have a push for offshore oil drilling only on hold long enough for our collective memories of the Deepwater Horizon to fade, massive subsidies for nuclear power, and legislators inserting language calling synthetic gas made from coal ash "renewable."

The following piece about the loss of the rebate program and the budding businesses that will probably be crushed by its demise appeared in the South Florida Business Journal - and NOWHERE ELSE.  Thanks to our local papers for missing this story entirely.  I guess they were too busy running "Earth Day" advertising from FPL as "news."

After four years of successfully spurring investment in solar energy, Florida’s solar rebate program is facing its final sunset.
The popular program, which paid homeowners up to $20,000 and businesses up to $100,000 for installing electricity-producing solar photovoltaic systems, is another victim of Florida’s budget crunch.

Read the rest at South Florida Business Journal

Tax bill financing for efficiency and renewables passes Fla Legislature

A bill making it OK for local government to set up tax bill financing of small scale solar, wind, efficiency, and even hurricane hardening, passed the Legislature on the last day of the session.  The Senate took up HB 7179 passed earlier in the week in the House and passed the bill to allow local governments to create a volunteer program for homeowners and businesses to fund energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements.

The concept, first started in Berkeley California, is pretty simple.  Most people cannot make a huge investment in major renewable energy systems in their homes and businesses (or major efficiency investments for that matter) because of the heavy up-front cost.  They get trapped into the "payback period" concept where you figure out how many years it will take to recover your initial investment.  A better way of evaluating these improvements is through a "return on investment" model.  Property Assessed Clean Energy programs (PACE for short) allows a ROI model instead of payback.  So would a home equity loan, but here's the advantage with PACE - the loan rides with the property, not the owner.  Since these are often substantial permanent investments into the structure that provide benefits that stay with the property, it makes sense that the repayment of the loan stay with the property that is receiving the benefit.  With bank lending at a near standstill, this type of program will give local governments a tool to really boost local investments and job creation.  And property owners will have a new tool to help them make that final commitment to serous energy improvements.

Finally, a decent piece of energy legislation out of Florida.

Efficiency Study: South could meet future demand through agressive efficiency investments

From the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance:

According to a new study released today by a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University, aggressive adoption of energy efficiency programs in the South would lower utility bills by $41 billion, create 380,000 new jobs, reduce the need for new power plants, and save 8.6 billion gallons of fresh water by 2020.

Total energy demand in the South, where per capita energy consumption is already higher than average, is projected to increase 16 percent from 2010 to 2030. At the same time, many Southern states spend less on energy efficiency programs than their peer states in other parts of the country. The research strongly indicates the South's projected growth in energy consumption need not materialize if the region begins to tap into its tremendous energy efficiency potential.

"An aggressive commitment to energy efficiency could be an economic windfall for the South," states Dr. Marilyn Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-lead researcher of the study. "Such a shift would lower energy bills for cash-strapped consumers and businesses and create more new jobs for Southern workers."

Read the study:  Southeast Energy Efficiency Study: Energy Efficiency in the South is a recent report by a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute that uses state-of-the-art economic modeling to evaluate the potential impact of energy efficiency policies on Southern states. The energy efficiency policies examined by the research team fall into three broad categories: residential, commercial and industrial. The report also includes state profiles for each state in the region (including the District of Columbia) and the economic and employment impacts of energy efficiency for each individual state.

Sun Sentinel: Clean energy measure slammed for "benefiting" utilities at customers' expense

- by Julie Patel on April 26, 2010

The Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association -- made up of clean energy companies, construction companies and others -- slammed a House bill to increase the state's renewable energy production because of its costs, among other things.

The group announced Monday that it has filed to the state its intent to create a ballot initiative to create renewable energy requirements (so-called RPS standards) that would allow independent clean energy producers to compete with utilities for building renewable energy plans and selling the energy.

FREPA leaders say the competition could lower costs to utility customers -- a major issue in the legislation this year.

The measure, HB 7229, is scheduled to be considered Tuesday in the House.

The bill "transparently allows investor owned utilities to bypass the Public Service Commission review process with regard to cost while encourages self building of plants by utilities," FREPA said in a statement. The group said it would boost the state's renewable energy supply but it would be "mostly to the benefit of...utilities' bottom line while not creating a competitive market in Florida."

(Read the rest on Sun Sentinel online)