Ygrene Energy Fund recently began marketing its loan program to cities and counties across the US for energy efficiency retrofits. The fund has formed alliances with British investment bank Barclays Capital, US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and German reinsurance giant Hannover Re. Ygrene has won exclusive contracts to market retrofits in a half-dozen communities in the Miami area, and expects to finalize a contract with Sacramento. It expects to fund $650 million in projects in Florida and Sacramento. The nonprofit Ygrene also announced it had formed a consortium to fund construction work that would cut energy consumption in homes and businesses across the US.
(http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110925/BUSINESS/110929690/1036/sitemaps) [2]
Ygrene will finance the energy upgrades entirely with private money through groups like Barclays. It will run the programs without any costs to local governments, which must authorize the programs and collect payments from borrowers.
Links:
[1] http://www.bdcnetwork.com/author/drew-ballensky
[2] http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110925/BUSINESS/110929690/1036/sitemaps%29Ygrene