Thursday, December 15, 2011

GreenFinanceSF-Commercial Program Announced

As part of San Francisco's effort to drive environmental and economic innovation, Mayor Ed Lee and SF Environment Director Melanie Nutter recently announced a groundbreaking program to encourage businesses to undertake climate-friendly building improvements and attract significant new capital to pay for them.

The GreenFinanceSF-Commercial program is a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program designed to give commercial property owners a new form of financing for the installation of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation improvements.

"The commercial PACE program is the next big step forward in San Francisco's efforts to dramatically reduce energy use and carbon emissions," declared Mayor Lee. "We are excited about the potential to unlock an enormous amount of private investment - from a wide range of sources - and create local construction jobs."

San Francisco's 16,000+ commercial buildings account for half of citywide energy use and 27% of the city's carbon footprint. The program strives to help commercial property owners reduce operating costs, improve occupant health and comfort, enhance building value, and mitigate environmental impact while providing financial institutions a new and secure vehicle to finance projects at attractive rates. A similar program was recently launched in Los Angeles County.

For more information about GreenFinanceSF, including program terms, process, eligible measures, and other resources, visit www.greenfinancesf.org.

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