Chamber guests learn about energy efficiency funding

A crowd gathered for the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee learned about a program to help businesses make energy-efficiency upgrades.

Josh McCarroll, program manager for the Missouri Energy Initiative, described the Show Me PACE open market program.

PACE, or Property Assessed Clean Energy, is a way for commercial property owners to pay for energy-efficiency upgrades and renewable-energy and water-conservation measures. The Missouri Energy Initiative is a not-for-profit administrator for Show Me PACE.

"The point that we try to stress all the time is that right now some folks know about PACE, some folks don't," McCarroll said. "PACE is in a lot of ways in its infancy in Missouri, and so we just need to get as many people, as many financing partners, as many funders, as many districts in as possible [to] create an open market."

PACE's funding partners finance 100 percent of a project's cost, repaid with an assessment up to a 20-year term. The program uses the tax system a municipality has in place, similar to a community improvement district or tax-increment financing district, McCarroll said.

McCarroll said PACE allows business owners "to take the assessed value of their property and use that, take a loan out, and take that loan to pay for energy efficiencies or renewable energy."

To qualify for financing, the project must be permanently affixed to the property, reduce energy consumption or create renewable energy. It also must save more money than the cost of the project.

"... It just has to save the owner more money than the owner spends over the course of the 20-year loan," McCarroll said. Projects could include installing energy-efficient heating and ventilation, solar panels or lighting.

Project eligibility is determined by benchmarking, energy audits and evaluations. Benchmarking involves measuring a building's energy use, then comparing it to the average for similar buildings.

Cape Girardeau assistant city manager Molly Hood said businesses often use energy audits to show what their savings will be by making the energy upgrades.

"There are consultants out there who can come in and assess a building and assess all the systems and make recommendations for improvement," Hood said. "And they can provide all of the cost-benefit analysis and return-on-investment information and whatnot."

Because of federal regulations, financing is not available on single-family dwellings but is possible for duplexes or condos, McCarroll said, adding financing soon could be available for low-income housing.

In July, the Cape Girardeau City Council gave final approval to an ordinance allowing the city to join a new Show Me PACE district.

Two projects underway in Cape Girardeau are at one Rhodes 101 Convenience Store and CityCentre.

The first project is adding solar panels at the Rhodes 101 on North Sprigg Street, Jeff Maurer of Mayson Capital Partners told the Southeast Missourian in July. Maurer said the plan is to cover the roof with as many solar panels as possible. The company also plans to replace the canopy lighting and parking lot lights with light-emitting diodes -- or LEDs.

Improvements planned for CityCentre, 2502 Tanner Drive, include a rooftop solar array, more energy-efficient HVAC units and installing LEDs in the building.

More information on Show Me PACE is available at showmepace.org.

Sponsors for September's First Friday Coffee were Bold Marketing and Big River Communications.

kwebster@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3646

Pertinent address:

777 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, M0.