Energy efficiency, stimulus

Santa Maria Times

By Lindsey Taggart/Guest Commentary

August 14, 2009 — Not surprisingly, concerns about large out-of-pocket costs are some of the biggest barriers that many property owners face when exploring whether to make their homes and businesses more efficient — such as adding insulation, improved furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters — or when adding a renewable energy system — such as solar photovoltaics or solar hot water system.

Although all these measures pay back over time, the up-front costs can be too big of a hurdle for many.

Last December, California paved the way for individual cities and counties to help their residents get over those hurdles by enacting a new enabling law.

Through AB 811, a government entity or jurisdiction — such as the county — can voluntarily develop a program that essentially loans money to property owners to make energy efficiency improvements and/or add a solar system to their home.

The loans can come from various sources, and are one way to funnel federal stimulus dollars into the pockets of local residents.

The loans are repaid through bi-annual property taxes over five to 20 years, depending on the condition of the loan. If the owner moves, the loan stays with the property, and the new owners take over the payments.

Three communities have created this type of loan programs for their residents — Berkeley, Sonoma County and Palm Desert — and several other communities are in the development stage.

In addition to helping home and business owners get over the up-front costs of energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy systems, these programs are creating hundreds of green jobs for home energy contractors, solar installers and others, putting money back into those local economies.

In Sonoma County, where the Energy Independence program was established in March of this year, several contractors have experienced a huge increase in projects, and some have doubled their staff.

Dave McElroy, principle of the Sun Connection, credits the Energy Independence program with launching his 16-year-old family company to a new level, after a couple of years of sluggish business.

“AB 811 was a God-send for us,” he said, pointing out that the biggest problem now is finding qualified staff to add to his busy team.

Santa Barbara County is working on a feasibility study that will help government officials decide if this type of financing program is right for them.

Ideally, all communities in our region that want to develop this voluntary program could join to create a sustainable energy assessment district, and any property owner in the district could apply for a loan.

The Community Environmental Council is pushing for a countywide assessment district, and is working to make local government officials and community members aware of this new financing tool.

Increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy makes sense for energy security and business, but it also plays into their Fossil Free by ‘33 goal.

If you’d like to hear more, come out to the Betteravia Government Center at 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, to the CEC’s next stakeholder workshop, presented and co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Action Network, Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce, Santa Maria Valley Contractors Association, Home Builders Association, SLO GreenBuild, Santa Barbara County Energy Watch, PG&E, USGBC-C4, Mission Community Services Corporation, Santa Barbara Contractor’s Association, and Built Green Santa Barbara.

Call 963-0583, ext.111, for more details.

Lindsey Taggart is a building energy specialist with the Community Environmental Council (CEC), and can be reached at LTaggart@cecmail.org.

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