(PACE) Property Assessed Clean Energy
Interesting, I just attended a contractor’s orientation (about 100 business people attended) concerning the implementation of a PACE program in Placer County, CA, the second county after Sonoma County in our state to begin implementation of Assembly Bill 811, the PACE initiative in CA. The program allows property owners to borrow funds for energy retrofits, pay the sum back over a 5,10,15, 20 year period…..and the assessment stays with the property if the owner sells. The idea being that you save energy, save money…..and the amount saved will be more than your current energy bills. A win-win for everybody….
But, it became very apparent to me during the meeting that the program is primarily an economic stimulus program, instead of an energy saving program. They will finance a huge number of projects from new windows, cool roofs, HVAC systems and components, solar hot water, skylights, low flow plumbing fixtures, tankless HW, etc, etc, etc. So many projects without any mandated loading order about what projects are the most energy efficient. To their credit, they did advise (but not mandate) doing less costly energy savings efforts first, but homeowners will still be susceptible to good ‘energy efficient’ salespeople from hundreds of businesses. They did actually establish a loading order before financing PV installation, which I thought was interesting.
So, inevitably they will finance $30,000 in improvements for one project, where the customer will receive 15% energy savings. And on another project they will finance $30,000 in improvements and the customer will see 60% savings. They are unwilling or unable to mandate procedures primarily because the CA Energy Commission has not yet come up with a published loading order of cost effective energy savings measures.
I think it will backfire on them in some cases where homeowners will not receive adequate energy savings even to repay the low interest loan payment, but they will have cool new windows which will add value to the property. I think a lot of homeowners and salespeople will view it exactly like that….a great way to add value to your home with a low interest loan from the county.
Martin, don’t you know anyone at the CA Energy Commission? Tell them you will write a loading order.
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Below is and excerpt from the Placer County website concerning the loading order. What energy consultant gave them this advise? Tankless HW at number 2? Yikes!... New, high SEER heating and AC units....don't worry about the ducts or the leakage!?....Yikes, again!. Salespeople love this stuff. Great ideas going astray.
Reduce before you Produce: What is Loading Order?
Making your property more energy efficient can help to reduce energy costs, improve comfort and help to protect the environment. You can save 10% to 50% on home energy bills by making some energy smart improvements on your home.
You should know that certain energy and water efficiency improvements are more effective than others at cutting your energy use. Installing the most effective efficiency improvement first is referred to as “loading order” installation. An energy audit will give you a custom report specific to the loading order for your home or business. The following is an example of a Loading Order installation.
1. First, installing weather stripping and sealing drafts and improving insulation levels in attics can typically save up to 20% of heating and cooling costs by EPA estimates.
2. Next, installing a tankless water heater can make hot water heating in homes with normal hot water usage 24% to 34% more efficient, according to EnergyStar™
3. Third, replacing your old central heating and air conditioning unit with an EnergyStar™ rated high efficiency unit can result in savings that pay for the cost of the unit in just three to four years.
NOTE: Solar power generation is most effective when other basic energy efficiency measures have been installed first. An energy efficient home requires a smaller solar system, costing less and shortening the payback period.
What's inefficient is using terminology from one dissimilar or arcane institution in a nonsensical application in another.
"Loading order" may make sense at a shipping dock to guarantee that items come off the truck in the most efficient order, and it may make sense in computer programming to control the boot sequence or the use of device drivers by competing software, but it makes no sense in terms of prioritizing the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency upgrades.
"Priority ranking" is a term that most people would understand. It may be true that the CA Energy Commission wrote a white paper on "Loading Order" for electrical conservation, but that doesn't make it either intelligible or appropriate for general consumption.