Opportunity, Fully Funded

Yesterday, Green For All and Living Cities unveiled the Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund alongside President Clinton, at the closing session of Clinton Global Initiative's Annual Meeting.

The groundbreaking fund will finance innovative efforts that create jobs and cut energy costs for low-income families through energy-efficiency building retrofits.


I am proud to say that in addition to advocating for public policies that invest in the clean energy economy, Green For All is now mobilizing private capital to directly create jobs and fight global warming.

By investing in new models for financing retrofits, the Fund will help catalyze and leverage additional funding from federal, state and local governments, financial institutions and foundations.

The Fund creates a unique platform for "triple bottom line" returns, including:

• Profit for investors: A financial return of 2 - 3 percent annually;

• Cuts in global warming pollution: An environmental return in the form of reduced energy consumption and avoided greenhouse gas emissions; and


• Jobs and opportunity for Americans: A social return that saves money and creates jobs for low-income people.

We estimate that when fully deployed, a $20 million fund would leverage approximately $200 million in financing for building energy retrofits. On an annual basis, this would mean:

• 37,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided -- the equivalent of more than 4,700 cars taken off the road;


• 25% energy savings on average in 15,000 homes, with total household savings of $6 million;


• 25% energy savings on average in 2,000 commercial/community buildings;


• 2,500 clean energy jobs, with substantial opportunity for low-income people; and


• Improved health, increased household income and/or greater worker productivity experienced by 40,000 people.


The Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund is an extension of Green For All's commitment to build a clean-energy economy that is ripe with broad opportunity and shared prosperity for every neighborhood.

In particular, we have been engaging the business community through our Capital Access Program. Through CAP, we coach emerging clean energy businesses, provide resources for the business community, and now, invest directly in the clean-energy economy. You can learn more and get involved with CAP here.

Building a better economy for America requires working hand in hand with diverse and unlikely partners: from elected officials to unemployed workers, from businesses to community organizers. Everyone has a role to play in crafting a clean energy future.


We are so proud to be able to work with businesses and investors to directly create jobs and wealth through clean energy.


Economic opportunity and environmental renewal are now converging through smart investments in people, place and planet.

Comments

[valkyrie607]

Jobs for people who need them? Saving money through efficiency? 2-3% returns for investors? Leveraging investments to bring even more money to invest?

Geez! What a bunch of dyed-in-the-wool communists you all are!

[sheila]

Great, if very very small start. What are you doing to ensure that all Americans have access to loans and feed in tariffs so we can all produce clean, democratic energy on our homes and businesses and be paid fairly for it? I have seen nothing that will defeat Big Oil (which is, of course, the central investor in Big Solar) and prevent new, rapacious monopolies in a Distributed Generation era, like ours should be.

Please, stop just "giving us a fish." We want the option to fish for ourselves and to sell those fish for a fair return on investment - just like our beknighted utilities have. Until we have total access to loans and generous payments for excess energy we produce (without killing wilderness, i might add), then all the bandaids in the world aren't going to prevent the disease of Big Energy destruction of our economy and our environment - which absolutely includes Big Solar, Big Wind and Big Transmission.