Thanks to our participating panelists:Rebecca Craft, Director of Energy Efficiency Programs at ConEdison; Susan Leeds, Senior Finance Fellow, Center for Market Innovation, Natural Resources Defense Council; Gary Fromer, CEO of Cpower; Curtis Probst, Managing Director, Head of Asset-Backed Securities Finance, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; and Diana Propper de Callejon, General Partner, Expansion Capital Partners, LLC. ('90).  The evening was a success, with over 100 people in attendance. 

For those of you not in the tri-state area, we wanted to provide some key take-aways.  Look forward to a video of the event to be posted soon.

Energy Efficiency Key Take-Aways

Three markets: residential, commercial, industrial.

Energy Efficiency projects are HARD.  They are smaller projects with high costs: fixing lights, pumps, hvacs, insulation etc.

We need to figure out the right business models and the right regulatory structure to make them easier.

Financing Challenges: 1) Collateral is hard to liquidate (ie: insulation), 2) Long paybacks, 3) Long financing structures needed, 3) Standardized loan markets do not exist for these projects so loans can’t be consolidated

Other Challenges: 1) Many will take savings from efficiency and add to the existing structure requiring more energy use long term, 2) As energy prices fluctuate so does demand for efficiency, 3) The players at the purchasing table don’t necessarily care about the problem of efficiency in the commercial/industrial sector, 4) Regulatory environment is not stable

3 Main Things the Market Needs: 1) Value proposition (people may invest in granite counter tops before they invest in efficiency—how does efficiency add value to the property?), 2) Confidence in payback, 3) Better information

Solutions: 1) Private market solutions with shorter payback periods, 2) Public Sector Funds, 3) Public/Private Partnerships, 4)Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards