Where are you from
originally?
I
grew up in Pensacola, Florida.
What university did you go
to?
I
attended Mississippi State University, graduating with a degree in Chemical
Engineering, before studying at Duke and the University of Cambridge.
What is your group’s mission?
Our
mission is to provide a new type of financing for energy and water efficiency
upgrades to commercial property. The goal of the Texas PACE Authority (TPA) is
to administer and promote Texas’ Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs
for the purpose of helping property owners utilize economically sound energy
and water improvements for their properties.
What need does it fulfill?
The
biggest barrier to investment in upgrading buildings is in how to pay for the
improvements. PACE financing solves many of the problems that have kept our
infrastructure from being equipped with new energy efficient technologies.
PACE
financing lets you put in energy efficiency measures and simultaneously
increase your bottom line. The goals of the TPA help Texan property owners save
money on energy and water bills by being more efficient and environmentally
friendly with their resource consumption.
What exactly does it bring to
startups?
The
TPA allows for increased investment in property retrofits and new energy
savings technologies in the state of Texas. For startups, this means that if
your company has a technology product with a long payback, or if you have
trouble convincing property owners of the financial case for your product, PACE
will enable you to do more business. This increased latitude for finance opens
the door for startups to enter the market and work with property owners,
contractors, and lenders to facilitate and aid the property retrofitting
process.
What type of startup would
benefit from your group?
Startups
related to real estate, construction and property retrofits, clean energy, and
finance would benefit from the TPA. PACE financing can be used for energy and
water efficiency technologies; if your business is in that space, PACE could
benefit you.
What was the most challenging
aspect of starting up the initiative?
Working
to ensure that the TPA is the unified PACE administrator for the entirety of
Texas is a challenging task, but also a necessary one. That is because the TPA,
as a Texan non-profit with an emphasis on open market-based approaches to
energy finance, is the best positioned administrator to keep prices and fees as
low as possible for Texan property owners.
There
are 254 counties in Texas, and adopting a PACE program requires a local
government resolution. We’re now open in Travis County, and hope to have a
couple of more big announcements by the end of the year.
What advice do you have for
entrepreneurs?
In
the clean energy space, you have to be focused on economics as much as
technology. The market will decide which technologies win out, and that
decision comes down to the financial bottom line. You have to make sure you can
present a sound business case as well as a technology case if you’re going to
convince someone to invest in your technology. I work with a lot of engineers
and contractors who are really good at selling projects in terms of kWh saved,
but really, they should be selling projects in terms of $ saved.
What resource have you found
to be the most helpful and why?
Various
organizations have been helpful to the development and support of the TPA,
including but not limited to Austin Energy, the State Energy Conservation
Office, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the US Green Buildings Council.
These groups, and more, believe that PACE loans are an important mechanism for
the modernization of Texas’ properties, and as such are willing to lend their
support, guidance, and resources – that is why they have been the most helpful.
No comments:
Post a Comment