SAN FRANCISCO-Manufacturers, schools, churches, and clinics throughout the US could cut up to $15 billion a year on their energy bills over the next decade, thanks to a pioneering new financial tool just recently launched by the locally based efficiency-services financer Metrus Energy and CalCEF, an organization focused on accelerating clean energy technologies. The new Efficiency Resource Fund will provide otherwise hard-to-get financing for businesses to make energy-efficiency improvements, with no upfront costs.
How it works is as follows: The Fund signs an Efficiency Services Agreement for up to 10 years with a building owner, and then hires contractors to design, install, measure, and maintain energy-saving improvements. As a result, the customer sees a reduction in its total utility bill, while making buildings more productive and comfortable. The fund recoups its investment by billing customers for their realized efficiency gains.
According to a prepared statement, “This innovative approach bridges the funding gap that has stymied small- and mid-sized retrofit projects--some 4 million buildings nationwide.” And according to Paul Frankel, managing director of CalCEF, this is an investment vehicle that “taps a massive, underserved market opportunity.”
Frankel points out that “We're enabling a whole class of projects that would otherwise not be completed, while at the same time delivering not just savings for customers but also attractive returns for impact investors and generating capacity for utilities.”
The Fund is an especially attractive investment for pension funds of the construction trades, according to a prepared statement. “It garners a substantial return on investment, while also generating new local jobs that increase pension contributions. Such investments are growing in popularity throughout the country. Recently, Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller and trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, urged its portfolio companies to increase investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.”
CalCEF expects to raise $10 million from investors by the end of the year. “There's a huge amount of money to be saved--and, for investors, earned--by improving energy efficiency throughout our economy and putting professional contractors and skilled tradesmen to work," says Jim Willson, executive director of the Los Angeles County Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, and a 20-year pension trustee.”
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
