Financing Energy Efficiency Projects in Small Towns and Rural Communities

Energy Efficiency Projects face several financial impediments, including:

Information financial institutions often lack a full understanding of energy efficiency technologies which are almost always investments with long repayment terms;

Commercial Lenders are risk averse to this type of credit exposure while investment funds have a greater appetite for risk but focus on large volume transactions, hence

Energy Efficiency projects that would benefit small towns and rural communities require specific and unique knowledge, expertise and funding sources.

Solutions

Energy Audits provide the necessary information on current consumption patterns and establish baselines for future demand and consumption with IT-based monitoring and controlling systems whose software gathers and elaborates data coming from smart meters.

ESCos are energy and water service/savings companies that provide design, implementation and financing of energy/water saving projects via retrofits, conservation, infrastructure outsourcing, power generation and supply, as well as risk management as they share in the risk borne by the project beneficiary as the funding source buys energy savings receivables resulting from the project.

Project Tasks include: identification and evaluation of energy-saving opportunities; developing engineering designs and specifications; project management from design to installation to monitoring; energy supply at the best costs; funding; staff training and ongoing maintenance services; guarantees that savings cover project costs; understanding and applying of energy standards, laws and incentives.

Energy Performance Contracts contain risk allocation, cash flow segregation, financial instruments and controls with the appropriate management information systems.

Economies of Scale and larger volume finance transactions are achieved by linking with similar size and type projects in other small towns and rural communities. 

Energy Audits Conservation Design and LEED Neighborhood Development

Energy Audits inspect and analyze energy usage and flows in a building to reduce the amount of energy input into the system without negatively affecting output. Building technologies and advanced real-time energy smart meters allow business and residential energy users to verify consumption in workplaces and homes. Passive Solar Buildings take advantage of the local climate with window placement and glazing, thermal mass, insulation and shading. Walls, floors and windows are designed and located to collect, store and distribute energy without the use of mechanical and electric devices.

Conservation and efficiency are energy reduction techniques; conservation implies sufficiency and is the key to sustainability as it lowers energy costs by reducing resource depletion.

Smart Location Encourages Transport Alternatives Historic Preservation while Discouraging Sprawl

Urban and Suburban Transport developed with inexpensive fossil fuels. Recent zoning practices range from greater urban density to incorporation of walking and bicycling designs that, coupled with lifestyle changes like telecommuting, help reduce transport energy consumption.

Sustainable Architecture is the Environmental Impact of Buildings and Materials Energy and Space Usage

Environmental Design refers to the applied arts and sciences that deal with the human environment in the fields of architecture, geography, interior design, landscape architecture and urban planning. It also includes interdisciplinary subjects like lighting design and historical preservation.

A Design Construction Operation and Maintenance Rating System

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED is a green building certification program developed by the US Green Building Council to assist building owners and managers to use resources efficiently.

LEED for Neighborhood Development is a rating system that certifies local development green buildings and integrates a project’s green building and infrastructure practices. The credits relate to energy efficiency, reduced water use, building reuse, recycled materials, and heat island reduction.

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