Everyone is talking about PACE, including us obviously. Based on our last blog posting it is evident we are interested in covering this topic because of the financial setbacks and legal hurdles facing the program. The holes in the program a very hot topic lately, and for very good reasons. For instance, from the recent article by GreenBiz.com on "How the fate of PACE could effect the clean energy economy," there was one small but very important snippet from the article that read: "PACE financing is a potentially revolutionary way to retrofit commercial, residential, and industrial properties with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. The program overcomes one of the largest hurdles to investment in clean energy -- the upfront cost."
So what is wrong with this portion of the article? There are two primary problems:
1. From the commercial building aspect it is impossible to put additional debt on the mortgage lien already in place...it just can't be done, period. So, PACE should really not be including commercial as an area of solutions provided.
2. Is the upfront costs really the biggest issue? Yes, it can be the big issue for some. But, no it isn't the biggest issue facing a commercial property that has $3M in energy efficiency upgrades coming up (for various reasons). There are a dozen other factors that play into a successful EE project and a complete failure of a project.
What are your thoughts on PACE working in the commercial space?
