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Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development – Communicate Impacts

Communicate program results to contractor partners and workforce development stakeholders.
Handbook

Financing – Communicate Impacts

Communicate the results of your financing activities to internal and external partners.
Handbook

Financing – Develop Evaluation Plans

Establish an evaluation plan that will allow you to determine how your financing activities are impacting the market.
Handbook

Financing – Make Design Decisions

Determine if enhancements to existing financing products or the development of new products are necessary to allow you to achieve your goals and objectives.
Handbook

Financing – Identify Partners

Identify and partner with financial institutions that can provide capital, underwriting, and other functions to enable your customers to access financing.
Handbook

Financing – Set Goals & Objectives

Establish goals, objectives, and timeframes for your financing activities.
Handbook

Financing – Overview

Ensure that your program’s customers will have access to affordable financing, so they can pay for the services you offer.
Handbook

Program Design & Customer Experience – Communicate Impacts

Develop a strategy for communicating program impacts and benefits to key audiences to create and sustain support and engagement.
Handbook

Design your financing activities to enable long-term sustainability

In order to overcome lenders’ concerns over the risk associated with energy efficiency loans, many Better Buildings Neighborhood Program partners offered credit enhancements to lenders (e.g., loan loss reserve funds) to attract lender participation and to mitigate lender losses in the event of loan...
Tips for Success

Engage with potential lending partners early, and make a clear business case for their involvement

Some lenders perceive home energy lending to be too risky or not profitable enough for them to get involved. Programs have found that engaging potential lending partners early in the program design process, especially in face-to-face meetings, helped them understand both lender needs and the risks...
Tips for Success

Streamline the financing process with easy loan applications and quick approvals

Complicated loan and program application processes have deterred many potential customers from following through with an upgrade. Delays and overly burdensome requirements raise barriers to participation. Many programs have successfully employed strategies to reduce the number of requirements that...
Tips for Success

Using Loan Performance Data to Inform Program Implementation

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2014
Organizations or Programs
Michigan Saves,
BeSmart Maryland

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on how loan performance data is tracked and analyzed, and what the data shows.

Resource - Topical Presentations

Loan Performance Data and Communication

Author(s)
U.S. Department of Energy
Publication Date
2013
Organizations or Programs
Efficiency Maine,
Indianapolis Better Buildings Program,
Enhabit

This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on gathering and communicating loan performance data.

Resource - Topical Presentations

The Impact of On-Bill Programs on Loan Performance: Evidence from the Green Jobs, Green New York Program

Author(s)
Jeff Deason, Goldman School of Public Policy , UC Berkeley
Publication Date
2015
Organizations or Programs
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
This paper investigates the credit enhancement value of NYSERDA's on-bill energy efficiency financing program relative to its similar conventional unsecured loan program. In the raw data, while both loan pools perform well relative to credit card lending, the on-bill loans default more often than the unsecured loans. This paper shows that this result persists: on-bill loans default more often, and this finding is not sensitive to model specification. This paper also shows that NYSERDA's alternate underwriting mechanism based on mortgage and utility bill repayment history performs well, and that projected dollar savings from the installed projects do not significantly influence loan performance.
Resource - Publications

Lending for Energy Efficiency Upgrades in Low- to Moderate-Income Communities: Bank of America's Energy Efficiency Finance Program

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
2016
This paper analyzes Bank of America's $55 million initiative to provide low-cost funding and grant support to advance energy efficiency investment in low- to moderate-income communities. The funding supported community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in developing and enhancing efficiency programs for residential, commercial, and multifamily buildings. We report on loan performance, energy savings, and the degree to which the savings offset the cost of the energy efficiency investment.
Resource - Publications

Lending for Energy Efficiency Upgrades in Low- to Moderate-Income Communities: Bank of America's Energy Efficiency Finance Program

Author(s)
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Publication Date
2016
Organizations or Programs
Elevate Energy,
Enhabit

This paper analyzes Bank of America's $55 million initiative to provide low-cost funding and grant support to advance energy efficiency investment in low- to moderate-income communities. The funding supported community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in developing and enhancing efficiency programs for residential, commercial, and multifamily buildings. We report on loan performance, energy savings, and the degree to which the savings offset the cost of the energy efficiency investment.

Resource - Publications

Home Energy Efficiency and Mortgage Risks

Author(s)
Institute for Market Transformation
Publication Date
2013

This study examines actual loan performance data obtained from CoreLogic, the lending industry’s leading source of such data. To assess whether residential energy efficiency is associated with lower default and prepayment risks, a national sample of about 71,000 ENERGY STAR and non-ENERGY STAR-rated single-family home mortgages was carefully constructed, accounting for loan, household, and neighborhood characteristics. The study finds that default risks are on average 32 percent lower in energy-efficient homes, controlling for other loan determinants.

Resource - Publications

Home Energy Efficiency and Mortgage Risks

Author(s)
University of North Carolina Center for Community Capital - Institute for Market Transformation
Publication Date
2013
Study examining actual loan performance data to assess whether residential energy efficiency is associated with lower default and prepayment risks. Results show that default risks are on average 32 percent lower in energy-efficient homes, controlling for other loan determinants.
Resource - Publications

Michigan Saves: Using Loan Performance Data to Inform Program Implementation

Author(s)
Mary Templeton, Michigan Saves
Publication Date
2014
Organizations or Programs
Michigan Saves
This presentation describes the financial data Michigan Saves tracks and how the program uses the data to inform program implementation.
Resource - Program Presentations & Reports

Alternative Underwriting Criteria: Using Utility Bill Payment History as a Proxy for Credit: Case Study on Clean Energy Works Oregon (now Enhabit)

Author(s)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Publication Date
2012
Organizations or Programs
Enhabit

This case study highlights Clean Energy Works Oregon's (now Enhabit) low interest, on-bill financing and alternative underwriting practices which have achieved a low rejection rate while also maintaining a low loan default rate.

Resource - Case Studies

Content Type

  • Resource (9)
  • Handbook (8)
  • Tips for Success (3)

Resource Type

Program Components

  • Program Design & Customer Experience (2)
  • Evaluation & Data Collection (3)
  • Financing (15)
  • Contractor Engagement & Workforce Development (1)

Program Design Phases

  • Overview (2)
  • Strategy Development (11)
  • Planning (8)
  • Implementation (5)
  • Evaluation (8)

States or Territories

  • California (2)
  • Connecticut (1)
  • Illinois (1)
  • Indiana (1)
  • Maine (1)
  • Maryland (2)
  • Michigan (2)
  • New Hampshire (1)
  • New York (1)
  • Oregon (5)
  • Pennsylvania (1)
  • Texas (1)
  • Virginia (1)
  • Washington (1)

Organizations or Programs

  • Enhabit (5)
  • Michigan Saves (2)
  • Austin Energy (1)
  • Beacon Communities Project (1)
  • Be SMART (1)
  • BeSmart Maryland (1)
  • Efficiency Maine (1)
  • Elevate Energy (1)
  • Energy Upgrade California (1)
  • EnergyWorks (1)
  • Indianapolis Better Buildings Program (1)
  • Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) (1)
  • Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) (1)
  • New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (1)
Residential Program Guide is a resource of the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office.
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