Texas turns it's eye to energy efficiency

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/texas-where-oil-rules-turns-its-eye-to-energy-efficiency.html?ref=todayspaper

2. Category of Problem: Energy Efficiency/Environment

3. Level of Problem: State & National

4. This article concerns: PACE- Property Assessed Clean Energy

5. Importance/affect on families/individuals: This legislation would highly affect business owners, focusing solely on commercial and industrial properties. The program set to unveil by the end of the year, would allow owners of commercial and industrial property to use a property tax lien to finance energy efficiency upgrades like solar panels and water recycling systems. PACE programs bill an owner through the lien and forward payments to a private lender. Under a smooth running program, property owners pay less than what they save on their energy bills. If a property is sold, the new owner would inherit the debt--a rule meant to further reduce the risks of investment.

6. My input: Texas is the nation's leading energy producer but also uses more energy by far, than any other state. I agree with former Republican state senator Kip Averitt, that "this means our opportunity to be efficient is huge as well." The people who are on board and sources of creativity for this initiative are a mix of renewable energy advocates, city officials, bankers and others. I am happy there is a diverse group of individuals working on this project and acting as the voice for other Texans who are concerned about energy efficiency. Many PACE supporters wish to see this program apply to home upgrades as well, but by focusing solely on commercial and industrial properties, advocates have garnered support from bankers. I feel it is unfortunate that this program isnt being extended to home upgrades just because of the financial support bankers can offer; but in a state where industry guzzles more than half of the energy used and makes up close to 20% of all the industrial consumption in the U.S., the narrowed focus could have an impact on energy demand nationally. I personally have considered how we as everyday individuals are supposed to spur change in the minds of businessmen who care more about the dollar than the well being/quality of the lives around them... and I suppose through reading this article, I can see how the State can make some attractive incentives to motivate these otherwise impermeable beings. Most of the time I feel helpless when it comes to environmental issues because people have their habits and mindsets and those are hard to change. How do you force people into action? Its very difficult to motivate people, but reading about this PACE program really shed some light on effective methods in which to do this.