Ann Livingston is the Boulder County Sustainability Coordinator. She discusses public funding opportunities around energy efficiency retrofits.

1. Public Funding Opportunities
Ann Livingston – Boulder County Sustainability Coordinator

2. Boulder County and Partners:
Better Buildings Grant
Energy Efficiency Finance Summit
August 4, 2010

3. Better Buildings Grant
 Department of Energy
 $25 Million, 3 years
 Boulder County, Denver, Garfield County,
Denver Regional Council of Governments,
and Metro Mayors Caucus with assistance
from the Governors Energy Office
 Access to Information, Services, and Finance
 Holistic approach
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4. Better Buildings Grant:
Finance
 $2.3 Million for micro loans
 Boulder County only
 $500-3,000 per property
 3 year revolving pool
 $8 Million in credit enhancements
 Intended largely for PACE programs, but flexible
 Boulder County, Denver, and Garfield County get priority
use
 Can include private sector partnerships
 Debt service reserve funds, loan loss reserve funds, and
other
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TIFF (L ZW) de co mpre s so r
e ne ed ed to se e this p ict ure .

5. Climate Smart Loan Program Basics
 Energy efficiency and renewable energy (RE/EE)
measures
 Countywide pool of funds obtained through sale of
bonds--after origination and before work
 Up to the full upfront cost of improvements is loaned
 Property owners opt in (minimal general fund
allocation)
 Special assessment placed on property
 Complements rebate and incentive programs
 Lender consent required (commercial)

6. Eligible Measures
 Fixtures to property
 Numerous measures allowed to meet different needs and
desires (40+ in residential and 70+ in commercial)
 Useful life must average length of loan or longer under
normal conditions (by tranche, not property)
 Minimum standards (on eligible measures list)
 Attic example: upgrade to R-38 is the minimum value we will cover-
-R-50 is ok as well, but R-24 is not
 Some items must be part of a package or may only be
replacements
 Non-conforming projects in commercial program

7. Residential Loan Size & Terms
 15 year loans
 Minimum: $3,000 per home
 Maximum:
 Open Loans (funded by taxable bonds): 20% of
statutory actual value of property or $50,000,
whichever is less—6.68%, 6.8%
 Income Qualified Loans (funded by tax-exempt
bonds, 115% AMI): $15,000, as per federal law—
5.2%, 5.8%

8. Commercial Loan Size &
Terms
 Loan size
 $3,000 minimum per property
 $210,000 or 20% of statutory actual value
(whichever is less) maximum
 Rates estimated at 5-6.5% based on category
 Properties currently exempt from payment of
property taxes must certify that the loan is no
more than 20% of property value
 5 or 10 year loan terms (estimated rates 5-
6.5%)

9. Status
 Environmental and economic focus (NREL
study)
 Local investment opportunity
 Collaborations, including private sector
 $10M in projects, paid out to almost 300
contractors/vendors/installers
 Residential Program on hold
 Legislation and litigation
 Federal guidelines

10. Contact Information
Ann Livingston, J.D.
Boulder County Sustainability Coordinator
Alivingston@bouldercounty.org
303.441.3517