In the Age of Solar Securitization, Is It Time for Real Third-Party Assurance?
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Securitization represents a critical step forward and will help drive the solar marketplace well beyond its current scale. However, securitization does not come without risk. As the industry continues to mature, so must the underlying systems that protect consumers and investors alike.
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A Step Forward for Efficiency Project Standards: Next Up, Securitization?
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For the first time, the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) used its protocols to leverage financing for a major project -- helping bring together technical standards and performance data into a single package. The project in Connecticut represents a small but significant step forward for streamlining efficiency projects, which often suffer from a patchwork of standards that create a bottleneck for financing.
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What It Takes to Make Efficiency Programs Work
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Cost-effectiveness testing is such a complicated and often boring topic that it gets overlooked as one of the key barriers to achieving our energy efficiency goals. For the foreseeable future, the funding stream for energy efficiency will primarily be coming from ratepayer funds (utilities and PUCs), where spending on energy efficiency programs funded by electric and natural gas utility customers will double by 2025 to about $9.5 billion per year
September 14, 2013 |
Being open about cash can fund your efficiency dream
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Everyone avoids talking about sex and money in polite conversation. In the power industry specifically, it may be even more gauche to talk about money than sex. But, a little sexy talk about money may be exactly what’s needed to give a lift to energy efficiency projects in search of funding.
August 18, 2013 |
Investor Confidence Project aims to develop multi-billion $ energy efficiency finance market
Cleantech Finance
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Last month, we discussed an influential new report by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Power Factor: Institutional Investors’ Policy Priorities Can Bring Energy Efficiency to Scale. The report detailed several policies that if put in place, could unlock broad-based financing from institutional investors for energy efficiency, a potential several hundred billion dollar investment opportunity.
July 4, 2013 |
EDF Follows the Money for Energy Efficient Buildings
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The Environmental Defense Fund has, for two years, been working on a new project to make it easier for investors to loan money for building energy efficiency projects. [+] More
January 18, 2013 |
Can EDF Bring Energy Efficiency to the Investor Market? - Greentech Media
For the past two years, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been spearheading a project to open up energy efficiency to investment markets. An initial set of protocols is now available to the commercial energy efficiency industry. [+] More
January 17, 2013
January 17, 2013
Senate Finance Committee Hearing on EE and Tax Reform - C-Span
Efficiency.org Principal, Matt Golden, Testifies to the US Senate Finance Committee:
Tax Reform and Federal Energy Policy: Incentives to Promote Energy Efficiency.
Read Matt's written testimony or Watch it on C-Span
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tax Reform and Federal Energy Policy: Incentives to Promote Energy Efficiency.
Read Matt's written testimony or Watch it on C-Span
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
How To Make a Bundle on Energy Efficiency - Slate
Wall Street’s new strategy for investing in good deeds. “We need better data,” says Matt Golden, a California consultant who has long worked on scaling up residential energy-efficiency improvements. “This is what it really takes to get the market going.” [+] MORE
November 30, 2012
November 30, 2012
How Would You Get the Government to Help American Business?
“How can Washington Help American Business?” That’s a loaded question. There are many Americans who believe
Washington needs to do more to spur the economy and create new jobs. [+] MORE
September 16, 2011
Washington needs to do more to spur the economy and create new jobs. [+] MORE
September 16, 2011
Creating a Market for Negawatts
Addressing our current energy crisis would be so much simpler if we were all as programmable as thermostats. But we’re not. Our nation’s attitudes and behaviors about climate change, energy efficiency. [+] MORE
January 16, 2011
January 16, 2011
Lowe’s Nails Down Investment In EE Start-Up - Wall Street Journal
Lowe's Cos.' (LOW) slogan about "building something together" normally refers to projects like kitchen floors and backyard decks, but now it can be applied to companies, following its participation in an $8 million financing round for home energy efficiency start-up Recurve Inc. [+] MORE
Jun 23 2010
Jun 23 2010
Recurve locks in $8M to make your home energy tight - Venture Beat
Recurve, a startup that helps make homes more energy-efficient and thereby slash their monthly electricity bills, has brought in $8 million in a second round of capital with about $4 million came from major hardware store chain Lowe's. [+] MORE
Jun 23 2010
Jun 23 2010
40 People Who Are Redefining Green - Grist
Four decades after the first Earth Day, the circle of people working toward a cleaner, greener world has expanded way beyond treehugging hippies, red-paint-throwing protesters, posturing politicos, and card-carrying members of enviro groups. [+] MORE
Apr 22 2010
Apr 22 2010
The 15 Best Green Tech Startups - CNBC
The selection criteria included technological edge, potential to disrupt the market, quality of the management team, market opportunity, amount of funding and hype power. [+] MORE
Apr 18 2010
Apr 18 2010
Made in the U.S.A.: Efficiency Materials - New York Times
A new study suggests that the majority of materials associated with building efficiency are manufactured domestically. [+] MORE
Mar 12 2010
Mar 12 2010
A Green Seat At the Table - TIME
Home Star could be the next step in creating a new national focus on energy conservation that will generate thousands of jobs at the same time. [+] MORE
Mar 05 2010
Mar 05 2010
Recurve Ranked Third Most Innovative Energy Company By Fast Company
Recurve named 3rd among Fast Company's 2010 ranking of the World's Most Innovative Companies in Energy ... an honor that cements its place among other top energy innovators like First Solar and Silver Spring Networks. [+] MORE
Feb 18 2010
Feb 18 2010
The Case for Home Efficiency Retrofits - Forbes
How smart investment in residential energy upgrades can rescue a troubled industry.[+] MORE
Feb 12 2010
Feb 12 2010
Interview: Matt Golden, Founder and President of Recurvem, SJ Mercury News
Matt Golden is the founder and president of Recurve, a San Francisco-based company that provides detailed energy audits and green energy remodeling to Bay Area homeowners; several venture capitalists are among its clients. [+] MORE
Feb 05 2010
Feb 05 2010
Home Star Program to Plug Home Energy Retrofits - CNET
For homeowners, the proposed legislation provides incentives to weatherize homes and upgrade to more efficient lighting or heating and cooling systems. [+] MORE
Jan 29 2010
Jan 29 2010
Home Weatherization Can Pay Off Big - Marketplace Money
Recurve recently did some simple improvements on reporter Sam Eaton's home to plug energy leaks. By insulating and sealing leaks Recurve was able to boost the overall efficiency of his house by more than 70 percent. [+] MORE
Jan 29 2010
Jan 29 2010
Cash for Caulkers: Right Program, Wrong Name - Huffington Post
Home Star cash is not just for caulkers. The workforce that will benefit from its incentives includes a wide range of skilled workers. These include insulators, air sealing technicians, heating and cooling technicians, electricians and many more. [+] MORE
Dec 22 2009
Dec 22 2009
‘Cash for Caulkers’: The Details - New York Times
Cash for Clunkers mobilized all of America's car dealerships and caused change very rapidly. The equivalent of that for home retrofits would be "Cash for Caulkers". [+] MORE
Nov 17 2009
Nov 17 2009
The Energy-Neutral Home - Forbes
How Recurve turned a historic house into an energy sipper to reduce the amount of energy the home uses by 62%. [+] MORE
Nov 06 2009
Nov 06 2009
The Home Energy Challenge pt 2 - Greentech Media
While the government has offered cash incentives for consumers to trade in their old gas-guzzlers, most Americans still live in houses that are real "clunkers" in terms of household energy efficiency. [+] MORE
Oct 19 2009
Oct 19 2009
The Home Energy Challenge - Greentech Media
Sustainable Spaces' founder Matt Golden presents a sustainable approach to reducing residential carbon emissions while creating jobs for American workers. [+] MORE
Sep 16 2009
Sep 16 2009
Keep it cool - Sunset Magazine
To keep a house cool, it's all about (1) keeping the sun out, or (2) keeping the air cool/conditioned. The key to this efficiency is having a solid thermal envelope for your home. [+] MORE
Jul 29 2009
Jul 29 2009
How To ‘Green’ Your Home - Forbes
Think twice before starting with solar panels. "It doesn't make sense to put expensive solar panels on a drafty house that leaks out heat," says Matt Golden, Recurve's Founder and President. [+] MORE
Jul 20 2009
Jul 20 2009
Before Adding, Try Reducing - Wall Street Journal
Should the U.S. government be doing more to subsidize conservation? Projects that improve efficiency pay for themselves quickly, the advocates say, and help people and businesses save money. Renewables, meanwhile, cost more money to achieve the same reductions [+] MORE
Jul 20 2009
Jul 20 2009
Green homes: solar vs. energy efficiency - The Christian Science Monitor
Want to cut your home electricity bill? While solar may seem like the way to go, many homeowners are shelving the idea in favor of insulating their attics ... just part of an energy retrofitting performed by Recurve. [+] MORE
Nov 26 2008
Nov 26 2008
Home, green home - The Economist
Systems, like ... solar panels, that enable homes to generate their own electricity may get a lot of attention, but finding ways to reduce the need for energy in the first place is just as important. Green homes start with a sealed envelope. Matt Golden, Recurve founder, says that a typical home exchanges around 35% of its air with the outside each hour, whereas carefully sealed "green" homes rate around 7%. [+] MORE
Sep 04 2008
Sep 04 2008
Audit home for energy efficiency - The San Francisco Chronicle
To see exactly how these energy audits work, The San Francisco Chronicle called on Recurve to assess a 1950s rancher. The process consisted of a questionnaire to help determine my carbon footprint; a three-hour visit; and a summary report, called a Home Performance GreenUP, that offered details and estimates for recommended work. [+] MORE
Apr 19 2008
Apr 19 2008
Green Ghostbusters Nab Hidden Power Leaks - Wired
San Francisco-based startup Recurve estimates that homeowners could reduce their energy costs by up to 50 percent by taking simple steps like fixing bad duct work and installing the right insulation. And since 21 percent of U.S. energy consumption goes into American homes, greater efficiency could help reduce the country's overall energy footprint, too. [+] MORE
Apr 08 2008
Apr 08 2008