Dear friends,

This afternoon the DC City Council voted to approve the Energy Efficiency Finance Emergency Act introduced by Council Member Mary Cheh.  This is quite a milestone, because the Act will authorize bond issuance up to $250 million to fund investments in what is called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE.  Those interested in lowering their energy costs by making improvements in energy efficiency or installing renewable energy systems would get low interest long-term loans collateralized by their property.  The loans would be paid off on the same schedule as property taxes, and would in fact be “senior” to those taxes.

What is so good about this is that the borrowers would not have to start with a large sum of money to make the improvements, and would not be strapped for cash to pay the loans for them either since they would be saving more in energy costs than they pay in loan service.  Everyone wins.

And to make it even better for DC’s citizens, the Council accepted a friendly amendment by Kwame Brown to provide for green jobs training, quality standards and certification, and a requirement to hire DC residents for PACE loan-financed work.  I spoke with Kwame Brown after the vote and he said this amendment could easily permit, in implementation, a targeting of job training to the most at-risk segments of the unemployed population – something P&PCAP member Louise White has been working to achieve in other venues.  If this prevents even a small share of that target group from ending up in jail or on public welfare, it will pay for itself many times over.

There is still much work to do before PACE loans become available, but this new Act, on top of the Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 and earlier “green” legislation, puts DC in a very select group of US cities leading the way in sustainable energy and climate protection.

Congratulations and thanks to Mary Cheh and the hardworking staff who prepared this legislation, and to Kwame Brown for his well-considered amendment.

John Macgregor