We can all grab Vuvuzelas and make a big noise…

…OR…we can do something about it.

Floridians actually have now a remarkable new tool for actually doing something about the murder of the Gulf of Mexico.

Floridians can now greatly reduce the amount of energy used in homes and buildings. Depending on which estimates is to be believed, between 50 and 70 percent of all electricity is Florida is generated by burning fossil fuels, including and especially oil.

The Florida Legislature created a way for communities to band together to reduce energy use.

The Florida Legislature adopted in its 2010 session a new PACE initiative allowing Florida counties and cities to develop pools of money from which property owners can borrow to make energy efficient and hurricane-hardening improvements to homes and buildings.

PACE – Property Assessed Clean Energy – is an innovative national approach to public-private partnerships enabling local governments to inspire private property owners to reduce energy use while also creating jobs.

Here’s how PACE will work in Florida:

Local governments – counties, cities perhaps even entire regions as a whole – will create Energy Conservation Districts which will then be allowed under new state law to develop a pool of money from which property owners can borrow to make energy improvements on homes and buildings.

The PACE legislation also allows for hurricane-hardening measures to be installed with these funds.

The cost of these retrofits – the home improvement loans – will then be repaid as small additional payments on annual property tax bills. The loans will run with the property, be transferred to successive owners and be spread over 20 years.

The bottom line: PACE loans will not cost property owners any additional money and won’t put the local government further into debt.

Savings from reduced energy use will more than offset the cost of the home improvement loan while at the same time increasing the value of the property which, then, accrues to the benefit of the local government in the form of increased tax base.

PACE is modeled on traditional land-secured financing of improvements such as storm water utilities, road and sewer construction projects and other public improvement projects.

One of the differences, however, in the PACE initiative is that participation by property owners is completely volunteers. Property owners will sign up & enter into an agreement with the county before accepting the home improvement loan. They will pay only for improvements on the homes and buildings they own and the improvements must be permanently attached to the home (solar systems, for example, window/door treatments, wind turbines).

Loans to property owners are secured by statutorily authorized non-ad valorem special assessments; a tax parity lien on the property.

Because the PACE program is new and participation in it is voluntary, the Legislature sees unique funding opportunities for participating counties.

The Florida PACE legislation allows local governments to seek interim financing through a third-party lender – a bank or group of banks – which would float the county a line of credit to implement the project.

Once the number of loans and the value of loans reaches a certain threshold, the “warehoused” loans can then be bundled and sold on traditional bond markets.

PACE in Florida will give Floridians a way to fight back, to reduce the need for oil in the Sunshine State.

For the full article : SteveHartFlorida.com