COLORADO—This month, Boulder County’s ClimateSmart Loan program received applications from county homeowners who want $4.5 million in loans to make their homes more energy-efficient.
The ClimateSmart Loan program is part of Boulder’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). CAP is intended to help Boulder County reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) output and its carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is measured by the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the environment.
ClimateSmart loans pay for renovations that minimize a house’s energy consumption. People can take out loans to weather-proof window frames, install tankless hot-water heaters, insulate walls, or put up solar panels.
The program, which debuted last May, funded just under 400 loans at a cost of $6.6 million, according to Ann Livingston, the Sustainability Coordinator at the Boulder County Commissioners' Office. This September, ClimateSmart received 276 new applications.
Although it is too early for hard data, the project seems to be going well. One unseen hitch for some Boulder residents have been negotiations with their Home Owners Associations (HOA) for rights to work on the exterior of their homes.
Livingston says that there have been higher loan fees than anticipated due to the “National and global economic conditions [which have] resulted in an unstable bond market (the program is funded through bonds).” She adds that the program has proved to be an economic stimulus in Boulder during the recent recession, and some “local firms have stated that about a third of their current business is due to the loan program.”
The average ClimateSmart loan is $18,000; the loans are attached to properties, not homeowners, and are repaid through increased taxes over 15 years. A similar loan program for Boulder’s commercial sector is scheduled to start later this year.
The ClimateSmart program was inspired by a program which funded solar panels in Berkeley, CA. Livistston says that Palm Desert, Sonoma County, and San Francisco in California; and Denver, Pitkin County, Gunnison County, and Eagle County in Colorado are developing or considering development of similar energy saving programs.
