A business consortium that includes Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank plans to invest as much as $650 million over the next few years to slash the energy consumption of buildings in the Miami and Sacramento areas. It is the most ambitious effort yet to jump-start a national market for energy upgrades that many people believe could eventually be worth billions.
This looks like a win, win, win. Contractors get work, retrofitting old buildings with efficiency-enhancing changes. The property owner has no up-front costs but is guaranteed the cost savings (typically one-third of their utilities cost.) Barclays finances these projects, bundling the loans into bonds that investors can buy. Payback comes via a property tax surcharge that is less than the amount saved on utilities.While the program has met some legal challenges for residential users, commercial properties appear to be moving forward with this innovative new program.
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