Aaron Nelson, president and CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, briefed congressional staff members today on how to make it cheaper and easier for businesses to purchase and install money-saving green technologies.
Property Assessed Clean Energy legislation allows property owners to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for their homes and commercial buildings without government subsidies.
In August 2009, North Carolina enacted legislation (S.B. 97) that authorized counties and cities to make special assessments to finance the installation of “distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to residential, commercial, industrial or other real property.”
Counties and cities could finance these programs by revenue bonds, general obligation bonds or general revenues, according to a news release. However, In July 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) told Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stop underwriting mortgages with PACE assessments, the release said.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce is a co-founding member of Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, a national partnership of local Chambers of Commerce "dedicated to restoring the nation's leadership in innovation and economic prosperity."
