Green Options

Renewable Funding’s PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) solar funding, begun by Cisco DeVries with Berkeley First was a breakthrough in making solar affordable. Now VC high-flyers Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Cycle Capital, and RWE Ventures have just invested $12.2 million in a first round of financing to make this sober and sensible solar funding available to more homeowners.

Renewable Funding is a business in the Common Good. And it could be big too. There’s potentially a gigaton of greenhouse gas reductions to be made, at no cost to local, state, or federal governments from a $280 billion potential market in PACE solar funding in the US, acording to a UC Berkeley study published in Environment Magazine.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that San Francisco will adopt municipal financing that helps building owners add renewable power without the risk or the hassle of loans.

The program is based on the Berkeley First program which allows homeowners to pay for solar installations through a 20-year assessment on their property taxes.

Newsom says “We’re going to adopt Berkeley’s program … but take it to a whole ’nother level.”

He’s not kidding: Berkeley’s was $1.5 Million (and sold out in the first nine minutes)

San Francisco’s program will be $30 million!