Montgomery County Executive Elrich Applauds County Council’s Unanimous Vote to Expand Finance Program for Building Owners to Make Energy-Efficient Improvements

Per Montgomery County:

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich applauded the County Council’s passage of the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Financing Amendments legislation (Bill 46-21) that will expand financing opportunities for building owners to improve the energy performance and climate resilience of their buildings to help meet the County’s climate goals.

“I want to thank the County Council for its unanimous vote in favor of these C-PACE amendments,” said County Executive Elrich. “I was pleased to send this bill to the Council because C-PACE offers an important opportunity for all building owners in the County to finance improvements to their buildings and make energy solutions more accessible. These flexible financing tools offered by the County’s Green Bank give private property owners the opportunity to make their buildings more climate resilient and energy efficient, thus improving operating costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Bill 46-21 expands C-PACE project eligibility to include climate resiliency, climate adaptation, water conservation, environmental health and safety upgrades. It also offers an extended pilot program for higher C-PACE loan amounts relative to the value of the building for existing buildings and newly constructed properties. In addition, it allows eligible projects to be retroactively financed using C-PACE.

Bill 46-21 will expand an existing tool in the market for building owners to comply with the proposed County Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) and meet the green building code requirements under the 2018 International Green Construction Code (IgCC), which is now in effect in the County.

C-PACE has been an important tool for the County’s climate efforts and allows commercial property owners to access funding for their own efforts. Since the County launched the C-PACE program in April 2016, more than $10 million in projects have been financed by private capital funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

The County’s 2018 greenhouse gas inventory shows that commercial building energy use accounts for 26 percent of community-wide emissions. As described in the County’s Climate Action Plan, the unprecedented challenge of climate change will require creative solutions, particularly in paying for climate action. C-PACE serves as one of those creative tools to help building owners make their buildings more resilient to a changing climate, reduce utility bill costs, and improve tenant comfort.

For more information about how to access C-PACE or other tools to finance building upgrades, visit https://mcgreenbank.org/mc-pace/