SAN FRANCISCO—As GlobeSt.com reported last week, a recent San Francisco Board of Supervisors vote revives a program that gives local homeowners access to clean-energy programs that could help make energy- and water-saving renovations affordable for them. The Board voted to make the HERO Property Assessed Clean Energy program available to local residents.

The vote returns residential PACE financing to San Francisco, the first major city to embrace the idea. It also revives GreenFinanceSF, a program that gives local homeowners access to HERO and two other PACE providers. Applications for GreenFinanceSF begin in Spring 2015.

GlobeSt.com spoke with Blair McNeill, VP of community development for the HERO program, about what its impact will be on local residents, how they can take advantage of the program and how it relates to sustainability programs in other parts of the country.

GlobeSt.com: What impact will the vote for residential PACE financing have on San Francisco residents?

McNeill: San Francisco and the surrounding counties do two things when joining the HERO program: first, they pass the resolution to allow California HERO to give homeowners access to the program as an option; and second, the cities and counties join a statewide joint power authority as an associate member. The program is administered through a JPA, which keeps the costs down for the cities and counties, plus they can join something that's already proven—they don't have to reset the clock. GreenFinanceSF has been particularly active on the commercial side, and this opens up the residential opportunity for homeowners. San Francisco went through an RFP process, and we were recently selected along with two other providers to offer our product to San Franciscans. That's typically how it works—you have to be locally approved. It's not as simple as flipping a switch—it has to go through a validation process, which takes a few months. We hope to have the program up and running by the beginning of April. In terms of timing, we're one of three providers, but we're proud of our track record and excited to be launching our program in San Francisco.

GlobeSt.com: How will residents best be able to take advantage of this program?

McNeill: Once it's live, there will be a few different resources for homeowners to look at and read about the program. We haven't solidified it yet, but at some point we will have a homeowner-facing website that we'll partner with GreenFinanceSF, and they'll be able to use it to find contractors who are certified and approved and trained. Homeowners will have an option to check things out online or interface with contractors. They will be able to select from a few different options if they're interested in finding out more or potentially moving forward with a PACE solution. If you look at it holistically, they will have options to do a PACE assessment and then have the option of who they want to go with, either with a contractor via GreenFinanceSF or we will find them a contractor if they don't have one in mind.

As for the types of products, our program specifically has about a million different products to choose from, and they're all Energy Star rated by the Department of Energy or the EPA's WaterSense program. There are three types of available products: renewable energy, which could be solar or wind; energy-efficient products, which could be anything from the roof to windows to a new HVAC system, to insulation and other items; and the last one is water conservation products, which is very important in drought-stricken California. These could be anything from high-efficiency toilets and taps to turf or natural-grass replacement, to graywater systems or certain types of irrigation or drought-tolerant landscaping.

GlobeSt.com: Does the program impact the residential-construction market?

McNeill: The way the legislation is currently structured, PACE is designated as retrofits and upgrades. Right now, we kind of view it as there are three pillars of our platform. The first is economic stimulus, which creates jobs and offers options for homeowners who might not otherwise have that option. They can either pay cash or take out a line of credit, and there are credit scores and a credit check involved. The minimum you can borrow through the banks is around $20,000, and our program starts at a $5,000 minimum. so there's a lower threshold in terms of dollar values. We want to make sure people aren't in arrears with their mortgage payment, and our delinquency rate is less than 1%. Second is from a mission or green standpoint: having higher-efficiency products do help homeowners save money and reduce their carbon footprint. And the last piece is consumer protection. As part of our program, every install requires a permit, and the work is not completed until it's done to the homeowner's satisfaction. That adds some to the process, but it makes sure contractors are following the rules. The contractors have to be in good standing, so we do police the program to ensure compliance; all contractors and licensed and insured.

GlobeSt.com: How do programs like HERO relate to sustainability programs in other parts of the country?

McNeill: We view it as they're integrated into what cities, counties or states are currently doing. California has certainly mandated some great actions, and HERO ties in nicely with that. Outside of California, we interact quite often with the DOE and other organizations including the presidential administration currently in office. There's a lot of talk going on right now at the Senate and presidential level about energy efficiency and climate action plans. The federal government can help solve part of this program, but it's really up to the state and local governments to drive programs like this. There are 31 programs like this in the states, 32 with the District of Columbia. Every one of them is different, and it does rely on state and local legislation. Some states have passed high-level PACE-program-type legislation and others rely on their local community, council f government, or county to go through the legislative process. A good resource for readers is PACENow.org.