Sustainable Energy

Improve the energy rating and improve the property value is the claim...oh and you also help to improve the planet in the process!

Lower energy bills and improved property values are the financial wins resulting from improving the energy rating in the home, so why is there such a small conversion rate from inquiry to completed project with the Green Deal?

Well the answer is probably that in actual fact the energy bill will not in the short-term reduce and also that as a result of the Green Deal loan being attached to the property's energy supply could also put off would-be purchasers and renters.

Looking at the improved house values another possible explanation also springs to mind - many of the higher rated A-B homes are new homes (build in the last ten years).  First of all new homes tend to carry something of a price premium in any event and secondly, there are some other factors that could contribute to a higher value; such as being covered by a warranty like the NHBC and from lower initial repair, improvement and maintenance requirements.  Older Victorian stock are the worst offenders and will also probably require a lot more in terms of improvement expense to put them right, leading to lower valuations for those that have not been improved in particular.

That all said, the incentive is clear - increase the energy rating and increase the home value.  The only question then is whether of not to use the Green Deal to do it.  As a landlord, I understand that tenants will be focussed on the running costs of their property and so will be interested in it's energy rating.  But they will probably not be too excited once they realise that whilst their rental achieves say a C rating say that in fact they are still paying the same as with say a G rating due to a Green Deal loan being attached to it.

My conclusion therefore is to introduce energy saving measures (with roof and cavity wall insulation being the biggest and easiest wins) but to finance this in an alternative way to the Green Deal loan.  Cash, increase in the mortgage of another type of loan not attached to the energy bill would be my recommendation.  After all, it is clear to see that everyone is a winner when we reduce the energy consumption of our properties, especially mother Earth.

Green improvements = yes...Green Deal Loan = no from me therefore

>On‐bill financing allows customers to pay back the capital costs of an energy efficiency retrofit as part of their monthly electric bill.

Utilities have offered customers on-bill financing programs for various energy efficiency retrofits for years. The utilities use their capital to cover the upfront costs of projects. Customers then pay back the cost of these projects over time through a charge on their utility bills.

[...]

Like on-bill financing, PACE programs recover the capital investment in energy efficiency as part of an existing payment stream. Rather than the utility bill, PACE programs rely on the property tax bills as the principal collection mechanism. One of the advantages of PACE financing is that it is not treated as a loan. If the property is sold or transferred, the tax payment obligation may be transferred with the property to the new owner.<

On bill financing and property assesed financing are great ways to bridge the gap to more renwable energy and energy efficiency.

"A very important conference occurred in Portland, Oregon last week – the Gridwise Architecture Council hosted the first international Transactive Energy Conference.  The topic of transactive energy is so new that there’s no formal definition yet, but as the author of the Smart Grid Dictionary, here’s my suggestion.  Transactive energy is a software-defined, low-voltage distribution grid that enables market participation by distributed energy resources (DER) bidding generation of negawatts or kilowatts.  Transactive energy describes the convergence of technologies, policies, and financial drivers in an active prosumer market – where prosumers are buildings, EVs, microgrids, or other assets."

>Transactive energy will play a critical defining role in grid modernization and shaping the Smart Grid.  Buildings, as noted in last week’s article consume 40% of the nation’s energy.  And while building owners can justify purchase decisions on energy savings as well as sustainability values, there’s another crucial factor for building owners to invest in technologies that reduce energy use and deliver self-generation.  That reason is to address the increasing vulnerability of the electrical grid to momentary and sustained power outages to both natural and human causes.

Buildings and their occupants are impacted by grid-related power outages.  The negative impacts range from reduced work productivity and decreased occupant safety and health to reductions in lifestyle standards.  Just like real estate values are higher for green buildings with LEED recognition, in the future, buildings that are grid-hardened may command premium prices because they preserve delivery of services regardless of grid status.  It is a compelling new variable in value propositions for tenants and occupants.<

As you all should know by now, batteries are one of the biggest bottlenecks preventing the advancement of our mobile tech. We can stuff as many powerful processors and as much memory as we want into our phones and tablets, but it won’t matter unless the devices can draw enough energy to make use of it all. Even if the mobile industry can produce a battery that can store significantly more energy than the average lithium-ion, it would still be susceptible to draining. However, what if our devices were powered by an energy harvester that could create energy out of thin air? MicroGen Systems is bringing that kind of device to market.

MicroGen’s energy harvester, dubbed Bolt, provides power like a battery — but uses a very different means to get there. Housing a piezoelectric microelectromechanical system (MEMS) inside the casing pictured above, the unit creates energy from vibrations in the surrounding environment. Ambient vibrations cause a flap on the device (pictured below) to move back and forth, which in turn creates a current that dumps energy in to either a capacitor or a thin rechargeable battery next to the flap.

"The phrase “energy independence” is misleading and should not be confused with isolationism or the ability to ignore events shaping world energy supplies. Producing more domestic energy, whether through renewables or natural resources, may help the U.S. improve its geopolitical bargaining position but only in the context of an energy interdependent system. Furthermore, an interconnected global economy means that the energy security of America’s allies and trade partners is vital to its own well-being."