Money Monday: Green Banks
Well, sometimes you schedule a blog post for 6:00 a.m. and then you spend all morning wondering why there is no post. Then you realize in the haze of birthday cake that you scheduled for the wrong day. Darn!
Here is Dee's first Money Monday post on Green Banks that you were supposed to get this morning. Sorry! -Courtney
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/06/09/240624/connecticut-passes-america%E2%80%99s-first-full-%E2%80%98green-bank%E2%80%99-proving-clean-energy-is-a-bipartisan-issue/?mobile=nc
Here is Dee's first Money Monday post on Green Banks that you were supposed to get this morning. Sorry! -Courtney
I’ve heard of a Piggy bank and I’ve heard of breaking the
bank, but have you ever heard of the concept of a Green Bank? Well, according
to the Clean Energy Finance Center, the development of state-level “greenbanks” are one of the most promising emerging ideas in clean energy financing.
Apparently, this quasi-governmental organization brings
together public and private sector capital to finance energy efficiency,
small-scale renewable energy, and other clean energy projects. Federal loans
and loan guarantees are critical for all three clean energy sources (wind,
solar and nuclear projects). Building efficiency improvements unlikely to
accelerate without federal financing support is fueling a unique financing
mechanism.
A principal aim of the green bank would be purchasing old
coal plants from utilities and generators, and then scrapping them. The
coalition estimates that 100,000 megawatts of coal plants could be retired in
this way, opening room for investments in new clean energy generation.
Limited public sector capital is the main advantage of a
green bank which uses public capital to leverage private sector investment. In
June 2011 Connecticut passed a landmark energy bill that included the establishment
of the first green bank in the country called Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA). The CEFIA will be able to borrow money and
aggregate new and existing capital sources, and will have the flexibility to
fund many clean energy project types, including electric and natural gas
vehicle infrastructure, electricity storage, renewable energy, and energy
efficiency.
Aimed at providing low-cost financing for clean energy and
efficiency projects the new entity offers Washington and other states a
workable model for promoting investment in clean energy at a time of growing
concern about the serious finance problems surrounding clean energy deployment.
CEFIA framework demonstrates how a green bank can combine
several existing sources of funding without impacting the state budget. The
Rockefeller Brothers Fund is helping to finance the development of
CEFIA financing programs. If done right, CEFIA will serve as a model for green
banks that can be applied to other states.
For more information see: