Jen Weiss is a Finance Analyst at the Environmental Finance Center.
Don’t gamble with program design
Yes, energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit of the energy world. And yes, the southeastern United States has even been referred to as the Saudi Arabia of energy efficiency (a quote originally attributable to Dr. Marilyn A. Brown, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy). And yes, it would seem likely that homeowners in the hot, humid southeastern states would be jumping at any chance to reduce their high utility bills during the hot summer months. But for some reason, despite all indicators pointing to “yes,” homeowners in many areas of the country have given a clear response of “no” when presented with an opportunity to finance energy efficiency retrofits with low-interest rate loans. Which is leaving many analysts in the finance industry, including myself, scratching our heads and wondering “why don’t more homeowners take advantage of these great, low rates?”
