Green Energy in SF just got SCREWED by the FHFA!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

This pisses mem off to no end. :mad:

SF launched a Green Financing program that would enable homeowners to finance solar/wind projects and have the costs added to their property taxes ovr 20 years. This program was the only hope for folks like myself to go green but didn't have the $$$ for the high upfront costs of solar/wind.

But not now. It's over. I am so angry right now I could spit. I am also heartbroken because I wanted this opportunity so badly.

Feds pull plug on cities' green home loans
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
July 7, 2010 04:00 AM

San Francisco's new, $150 million program to help property owners finance solar and other energy-saving programs is all but dead, according to city officials, after a federal agency announced Tuesday that the program and others like it across the state are potentially risky and inadvisable for mortgage lenders.

The programs have been widely championed as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills and to create green jobs. Generally, the programs allow a property owner to obtain a low-interest loan from local governments that are backed by bonds. The property owner then repays the loan over 20 years through a tax assessment, which is attached to the home, even if it is sold.

Several Bay Area cities embraced the energy retrofit plans, which originated in Berkeley and are made possible by 2008 state legislation. Fourteen additional California counties planned to embark on similar endeavors later this year and cities and counties in other states have pursued similar proposals.

...snip...

San Francisco launched its version of the idea, called GreenFinanceSF, with great fanfare in April and $150 million in financing, making it one of the nation's most ambitions efforts.

The problem, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is that the local loans attach to the properties as liens if they are not paid off and those liens, because they are property taxes, trump banks for who gets paid back first from proceeds of a foreclosed home. In a housing market that is - at best - recovering, the risk of home loan defaults remains high and lenders do not want to risk losing more money.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/07/MNCI1EA8OI.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0t0prxCv9

[msongs]

1. gee lenders didnt mind making risky loans 3 years ago before begging for bailouts nt

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. Yup. You got it.

To me this is nothing but an attempt to shut down people based green energy that would bypass energy corporations.

Fuck'em. :mad:

[sandnsea]

3. This is how sewage, streets, etc are financed

I think this is a stupid ruling by that agency and hopefully will be challenged quickly. It makes no sense and has absolutely no historic precedent at all.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. I hope it is challenegd, too.

I am going to the next Board meeting and speaking out about it. Will also contact the WH -- O could show some real Green cred if he were to take such a program national.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Why would this thread receive unrecs?

Democratization of the power grid is a liberal concept.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. Because DU is infested with ---

some seriously icky trolls. :shrug:

[Lance_Boyle]

6. Does SF even get enough sun to make solar's paltry 15% efficiency worthwhile?

I can understand financing REAL energy improvements in this way - improved insulation, improved windows, even solar hot water. But 20-year financing for mostly-worthless PV tech that in most cases would not produce a positive ROI until the very end of the financing period? Nah. Gimmicky and dumb.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. Everything you mentioned --

was part of the SF plan. You created a green "package" for your house, depending on what you needed. A energy audit was the first step. Then insulating and energy efficient windows were a required part of the basic plan. SF has OK sun, but even better wind. My plan was to go with panels and an urban windmill.

For many of us, "return on investment" is secondary to generating green energy.

[immune]

7. "a federal agency announced Tuesday"

Ummm, there's something missing in this report.

WHICH federal agency? What federal agent?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. It's there --

"Federal Housing Finance Agency"

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. Did you click on the link?

"... the Federal Housing Finance Agency..." Sixth paragraph down.

[immune]

12. Sorry, I shouldn't try to do too many things at once ....

I'm still wondering WHO made this decision. An agency doesn't think or decide ... people do that.

[KamaAina]

13. "The problem, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency,"

is apparently that these programs don't guarantee huge profit margins for big banking. :eyes:

the local loans attach to the properties as liens if they are not paid off and those liens, because they are property taxes, trump banks for who gets paid back first from proceeds of a foreclosed home.

[EFerrari]

14. Can't the program create instruments that go into second position?

This is just stupidity.