Where there's a Will, there's a way

Illinois Sierra Club Executive Director Jack Darin recorded a video on environmental legislation being considered in the General Assembly. He posts regular updates during the legislative session and this one is from last Thursday.

Six minutes into the video he talks with Champaign-area Senator Mike Frerichs about his PACE Bonds bill (Soooooo much better than STAR Bonds, BTW). I'll let the video and website explain how it supports clean energy, efficiency projects, and green jobs.

There’s big buzz around the new concept called PACE financing, which stands for property assessed clean energy. Basically, PACE is a way to finance solar systems or energy efficiency retrofits, where a city gives you a loan, and you pay it back through property tax bills over twenty years.

So why is PACE good for you?
* For starters, the program doesn’t require shelling out any cash upfront or reducing equity in your home.
* Secondly, property tax financing solves the problem of “what happens when I sell my home?” The simple answer is that the solar power system and whatever tax liability you have both go to the new owner of your home.
* Third, it’s backed by the city, so people know they won’t get scammed, and the financing is obviously secure since…well…it’s the IRS!