Green Building Blog

From their first meeting of less than 50 people just a couple of years ago to almost 500 this year, PACENation reflects the potential this groundbreaking policy has on the future of the built environment. PACENation is the national, non-profit advocacy organization for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

In 2016, PACE passed the $3 billion mark in cumulative financing (commercial and residential). “What we’re really seeing is the birth of an industry. It isn’t just about burning less hydrocarbons, it’s also about saving money,” John Hickenlooper, the Governor of Colorado told the crowd.

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy), a new way to finance energy conservation measures in commercial buildings, came to Michigan just four short years ago. Like most new ventures, it took a while for it to gain traction among property owners and building managers.

In 2015, Wayne State University’s Academic Administration Building, Detroit, MI, was facing many of the same concerns as other office buildings of similar age. Tenants (in this case University employees) repeatedly complained to building maintenance staff that they were “too hot” or “too cold.” And the costs of running the building kept creeping up.

As part of a DTE Energy and Nexant Retro-commissioning (RCx) project for no-cost and low-cost energy conservation measures (ECMs) with short-term payback, Newman Consulting Group (NCG) conducted an ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Analysis and RCx Study on the building. We uncovered several opportunities that would not only make tenants more comfortable, but also save money. The DTE RCx program, however, dictated that any measures eligible for rebates from DTE under their Energy Optimization program could not be included in the ECMs implemented for this project, e.g., LED lighting, high-efficiency motors, or VFDs, to name a few. Still, we were able to make significant improvements.

Energy audits are one of the best ways to discover money-saving opportunities in an existing building. A commercial or industrial energy audit, also called an energy analysis, will identify how much energy a building uses, how efficiently it uses that energy, and where changes and improvements can be made that will impact both the occupant comfort and the bottom line.

How to Qualify for PACE Financing and Finally Implement the Energy Conservation Measures You’ve Been Dreaming About!

Do your tenants and customers complain about air quality and the physical work environment? It often sounds like this: “I’m too hot,” “I’m too cold.” Or worse, “There’s a funny smell and I think it’s making me sick.”

You fix and you fix and you fix - the vents, the windows, the HVAC. But the improvements are slight and they don’t last long.

And you’ve noticed that your energy bills have nearly doubled over the last few years.