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An Opportunity This Big Can’t Be Ignored
PECO Small Business Solutions provides a turnkey opportunity for small businesses with complimentary energy evaluations and covers a significant portion of the equipment costs for energy-efficient upgrades, including interior and exterior LED lighting, HVAC, refrigeration and food service. Learn more.
SEI has training grant dollars to partially reimburse companies for training their employees for courses that are scheduled from January 1, 2021 – June 15, 2021. Go to https://smartenergypa.org/initiatives/training-funds/ to find out more.
Below is an announcement SEI would like to share from our partners at PECO.
At PECO, safety is the top priority. As part of our commitment to safety, we’re continuing to monitor developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and taking appropriate precautions to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors and customers. Learn more about ways we can help.
Don’t let time run out on your chance to get financial incentives from PECO for making energy-efficient upgrades to your lighting, HVAC, refrigeration and more. Planning for, purchasing and installing equipment may take longer than you initially expect, but financial incentives from PECO will expire May 15, 2021, or earlier if funds run out.
Not sure what energy improvements to tackle first? Get your customized report to identify ideal areas for cost-saving improvements. Get started HERE
SEI has a commercial that has been on rotation with Comcast! View it HERE!
Pennsylvania sees first use of C-PACE loan for renewable energy – Smart Energy Decisions
Shared from Smart Energy Decisions: https://www.smartenergydecisions.com/renewable-energy/2020/08/19/pennsylvania-sees-first-use-of-c-pace-loan-for-renewable-energy
See the list of counties that have approved CPACE already! https://pennsylvaniacpace.org/participating-counties/
If you have a potential project in a county that has not yet enacted the resolution contact Sustainable Energy Fund at 610-264-4440 or email cpace@thesef.org to find the status of the county and next steps.
All that you need to know can be found here https://pennsylvaniacpace.org/. Note: banks need to “register” with Sustainable Energy Fund at 610-264-4440 or email cpace@thesef.org to participate.
Monday, August 24th 2015
From greentechmedia.com:
Some barriers to popularizing the property-assessed clean energy (PACE) program across the U.S. were cleared today with an announcement made by President Obama at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
PACE loan programs let homeowners finance energy-efficiency upgrades, such as adding insulation and water savings measures or installing energy-efficient windows or solar panels, to be paid back as a line item on the homeowner’s property tax bill. This lowers the risk for lenders and owners and can potentially build a much larger energy-efficiency market.
But PACE obligations enjoy first-lien status in most states, making municipalities first in line to be repaid — ahead of the mortgage agencies, in case of default — and mortgage agencies don’t like that.
So today, the White House and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established a new PACE guidance aiming to “remove existing barriers and accelerate the use of PACE financing for single-family housing.” (The FHA guidance letter can be found here.)
According to the California Association of Realtors, the FHA guidance will require PACE liens to be subordinate to FHA single-family first-mortgage financing,
As Cisco DeVries, CEO of Renew Financial, notes in a release, “The FHA, which insures over 20 percent of new mortgage originations in the United States, outlined a set of principles associated with their new guidance — including allowing PACE financing to transfer between owners during the sale of the home if the PACE lien can be subordinated during a foreclosure.”
In a statement from today, Ed Golding, head of the FHA, wrote, “PACE allows homeowners to benefit from the improvements immediately and spread the cost over time. When the property is sold, the PACE loan may transfer to the next owner, who is responsible for repaying the loan. The ability to transfer the loan to the new owner allows for both the payment and the value of the retrofit to be transferred from one owner to the next.”
California completed about $500 million in residential PACE projects for approximately 25,000 homes in 2014, according to PACENow, a nonprofit that promotes the PACE model.
Read more at greentechmedia.com:
Friday, May 1st 2015
From CNET.com:
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk officially announced two battery backup solutions, one for homes and one for industrial use, at an event at the company’s Southern California design studio. The lithium-ion battery modules can store electricity from solar panels and serve to balance loads from the grid, charging up during non-peak energy usage hours, then providing energy to a home or facility during peak hours.
Homeowners will be able to get the Powerwall, which Tesla will sell in 7 and 10 kilowatt-hour modules. Musk said that certified installers could buy the smaller pack for $3,000 and the larger pack for $3,500 (UK and Australian details were not announced).
For industrial applications, Tesla offers the Powerpack, sold in 100 kilowatt-hour modules at $25,000 each. Musk said that Tesla would work with industrial customers on these installations. The battery backup systems come under a new product line at Tesla called Tesla Energy.
Read more at CNET.com
Wednesday April 22nd, 2015
It might not be a blockbuster bill, but Congress easily passed efficiency legislation yesterday proving that one energy issue both sides can get behind is simply using less energy. From the New York Times:
‘The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign into law this week, is a modest one. But its authors, Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who had worked together for years on more ambitious energy-saving legislation, called it a significant victory.
“On the bill’s merits — creating jobs, saving consumers money and reducing pollution — it was never a hard sell,” Ms. Shaheen said. “The tough part was convincing Washington to not play politics with a good idea.”
Mr. Portman said, “Our targeted energy efficiency bill has garnered widespread support because of a simple fact: It is good for the economy and good for the environment.”’
Amen. So what exactly does the legislation entail?
“The narrower bill would create a voluntary program for landlords and tenants to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings, mandate that large electric water heaters be run in a highly energy-efficient manner and require federal agencies to perform energy-use assessments on commercial buildings that they lease.”
Read more at NYTimes.com
Thursday, April 2nd 2015
Members of SEI’s Board of Directors and a handful of guests toured Independence LED‘s Boyertown, PA LED factory yesterday. The group learned how various components are manufactured into high-performance LED light fixtures for almost any application right here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Special thanks for Charlie Szoradi, Chairman and CEO of Independence LED, and his team for showing us their facility!
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Smart Energy Initiative • Chester County Economic Development Council
Eagleview Corporate Center • 737 Constitution Drive • Exton, PA 19341 • 610-458-5700 • Fax: 610-458-7770 |
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