LBNL's New Clean Energy Program Policy Briefs

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

Launched as a Portland-based pilot in April 2010, Clean Energy Works Oregon (CEWO) provides outreach, education, incentives, and financing to encourage Oregon residents to improve the efficiency of their homes. A key element of the program is low interest financing that is repaid through a line item on the utility bill. For households motivated to pursue energy efficiency, access to low-cost capital is often a barrier to investment. Many of the largest energy efficiency loan programs have application decline rates of 30 to 50 percent. Using alternative underwriting practices, CEWO has achieved a rejection rate of just 10 percent while also maintaining a low loan default rate.

Download the CEWO policy brief here or at middleincome.lbl.gov

Using Credit Enhancements to Leverage Existing CDFI Capacity: Indianapolis EcoHouse Project Loan Program

Launched in June 2011 with Recovery Act funds, the City of Indianapolis Office of Sustainability partnered with the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP), a community development financial institution (CDFI) focused on affordable housing, to design a financing program for low and middle income Indianapolis homeowners.  The $6 million EcoHouse Project Loan Program offers Indianapolis households earning up to 120 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) unsecured loans  up to $4,000 and four years, and secured loans up to $15,000 and 10 years. Eligible homeowners typically have little access to anything but credit card financing – often at rates from 15-25 percent, so the EcoHouse Project’s mid-single digit fixed interest rate loans are an attractive tool for enabling energy improvements among households who are otherwise unlikely to be able to access affordable financing. Program managers expect that they will make a minimum of 400 loans, utilizing up to $6 million over the next two years.

Download the INHP policy brief here or at middleincome.lbl.gov

Extending Efficiency Services to Underserved Households: NYSERDA’s Assisted Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program

Since 2001, New York residents have completed over 39,000 energy upgrades through NYSERDA’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES) initiative. Approximately one third of these projects have been completed through the Assisted HPwES track, which offers large incentives to middle income households who do not qualify for the free Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). New York’s suite of energy efficiency offerings, from free weatherization for low income residents, to free energy assessments and large energy upgrade financial incentives for middle income households, to reduced incentives for higher income homeowners represents a compelling approach to delivering energy improvements in the residential sector. These incentives are complemented by the recently-launched Green Jobs-Green New York (GJGNY) financing platform, which uses alternative underwriting criteria in an effort to qualify creditworthy households for financing and reduce the 40+ percent loan applicant rejection rate NYSERDA experienced with the Fannie Mae Energy Loan 2011.

Download the NYSERDA policy brief here or at middleincome.lbl.gov