Multnomah County Commissioner-elect Jules Bailey is spearheading an effort to create a county program that would provide cheap financing for energy-efficiency retrofits of commercial buildings.

Through the program, lenders would provide low-interest, long-term loans for various projects to increase energy efficiency in the built environment. Lenders would receive assurance of repayment because debt would be assessed by the county via borrowers’ property taxes, Bailey said. No support from taxpayers would be required, he said.

“There is capital, but builders are very risk averse,” he said. “This is a proven way to secure a funding mechanism in a way that doesn’t involve the public.”

The program would help owners defray costs – and provide a boost for the industry, Bremik Construction President Brent Parry said.

“Everything does get down to that first cost,” he said. “If people can find a way to defray that first cost or find another funding mechanism, that’s the way to do it.”

Details of the program are still being worked out, but Parry envisions developers bundling project pieces – such as an HVAC system replacement, a seismic upgrade or a rooftop solar array installation – into a separate, more affordable loan.

Bailey, who has been working with Portland Development Commission and county leaders for more than a year, intends to introduce the program this summer after he is sworn into office June 9.

“They’re champing at the bit,” he said of PDC officials who envision the program facilitating projects throughout Portland.

Bailey was part of the Oregon Legislature that in February passed House Bill 4041. It opened the door for counties to establish programs allowing third-party financing of retrofit projects in which loans come from private sources, but debt is attached to the borrower’s property tax rolls.

Any sale of the property would then transfer the loan to the buyer, Bailey said.

“It gives the lender assurance and allows really cheap capital,” he said. “It is very attractive to building owners, who can upgrade their buildings.”

The program is modeled after California’s , which were introduced for residences in 2008. The default rate for PACE commercial projects is less than 1 percent, Bailey said.

The PDC has studied PACE and other states’ programs, agency spokesman Shawn Uhlman said.

“The PACE piece is part of a broader legislation that allowed the open market financing,” he said. “We’re interested in pursuing a role in that program. It certainly is intriguing.”

A similar residential retrofitting program, Clean Energy Works, started as a pilot program in Portland in 2009 and expanded statewide in 2010. The program, which allows homeowners to pay back low-interest loans on their utility bills, helped Portland-based Neil Kelly Co. increase its performance division from four employees to 70 during the deepest depths of the recession, said Tom Kelly, the company’s president and owner.

“That totally changed the dynamic,” he said. “A lot of growth happened in the recession, which was what those stimulus dollars were intended to do. We were one of those companies that created jobs.”

A program targeting commercial retrofits could provide a similar boost, Kelly said.

“Of course we are interested,” he said. “Small-scale commercial retrofitting is a huge opportunity.”

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Good things sometimes happen in threes, especially at Clean Energy Works.

The Portland-based nonprofit helps Oregon homeowners assess the energy efficiency of their homes. The group then helps them find ways to retrofit the structures and make them more efficient by tapping into local sources that provide no-money-down financing, materials and installation services.

Clean Energy Works started in 2009 as a Portland pilot program, and then expanded statewide in 2010.

“We’re now the largest nonprofit home performance provider in Oregon, said Stephanie Swanson, Clean Energy Works’ director of marketing.

The nonprofit operates targeting three goals that Swanson refers to as the “three E’s”: energy, economy and equity. With an eye toward making good on the latter two parts of that slogan, Clean Energy Works helps connect homeowners with local suppliers and installers, while also working to help create job opportunities for women, minorities and veterans.

In order to work on a project that Clean Energy Works is affiliated with, contractors must follow the nonprofit’s “High Roads” standards. They include minimum pay and provisions for health insurance, hiring historically underutilized members of the workforce (including women and minorities), and hiring locally.

“We’re happy to report they almost always exceed (the standards),” Swanson said. “We provide jobs through 35 prime contractors and over 200 subcontractors statewide. The minimum pay is 180 percent of minimum wage, with health care provided by the employers.”

In the past three years, Swanson said, more than half of the completed projects that involved Clean Energy Works featured work performed by women and minorities. Additionally, more than 20 veterans were employed on those projects.

Those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed at the state level. This past December, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) presented Clean Energy Works with the BOLI Workforce Champion Award for creating more jobs for women, minorities and veterans.

“I think about what we do and how many people we’ve helped in just five years and sometimes I’m amazed,” Swanson said. “It’s nice to go to work every day and look at what we’re doing and what our goals are and think: Mission accomplished.”

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The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries this past Wednesday honored Portland-based nonprofit Clean Energy Works for efforts to create more construction jobs for women, minorities and veterans.

Clean Energy Works received the BOLI Workforce Champion Award – one of the bureau’s Business Leadership Awards.

The organization partners with contractors, labor unions and other nonprofits to provide Oregon homeowners with weatherization and other retrofit work aimed at improving home energy efficiency, Clean Energy Works spokeswoman Stephanie Swanson said. One of Clean Energy Works’ goals is to hire as many women, minorities and veterans as possible for its projects, she said. The BOLI recognition is a nice accolade for this effort, she said.

“It’s an extraordinary honor and it’s an indication of the very hard work not only of Clean Energy Works, but the local partners to really push job creation,” she said.

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said BOLI officials were impressed that in the past three years women and minorities have completed 55 percent of all construction work hours for the organization’s projects. Also, more than 20 veterans have found work through Clean Energy Works programs, he said.

“They’ve really expanded the workers that they have, really providing opportunities for women and people of color,” Avakian said. “We believe they are the type of employer that’s going the extra mile to help hire more of these workers.”

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A pilot program that provides low-interest loans for homeowners looking to upgrade their homes’ energy-efficiency is on track to expand throughout the state this year.

Clean Energy Works started as a 500-home pilot program in Portland. Gov. John Kitzhaber and other state leaders today marked the statewide launch of the Clean Energy Works program, which will expand from Portland and the Rogue Valley to the Klamath Basin, Lane County, Hood River, Astoria, Bend and Pendleton later this year.

At an announcement in Salem today, Energy Works Oregon CEO Derek Smith said the program has already created more than 100 jobs and more than 500 projects have been completed. In the next three years, Clean Energy Works aims to create 1,300 jobs and complete 6,000 residential projects.

To be eligible for projects through the program, contractors must be approved by the Clean Energy Works organization and must have Energy Trust, Building Performance Institute, and OSHA certifications. For more information, visit .

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A recent rainy Thursday afternoon in Portland found Marenda Chamberlin, 25, and Natalie Ulman, 24, installing fiberglass batt insulation in the attic of a Southeast Portland home. The two women are college graduates who found a nearly non-existent job market in Portland upon leaving the classroom. But a local nonprofit called Verde Energy was able to find work for the two women doing home weatherization for Portland’s .

Verde Energy provides training and employment to Portlanders experiencing barriers to employment, said Colleen Neel, energy program manager for Verde. A recent partnership with Clean Energy Works, which provides assistance to low-income homeowners for energy efficiency projects, has allowed Neel to hire four employees willing to get their hands dirty installing insulation.

“It was a surprise how much I enjoy the work,” Ulman said. “It’s really hard work and my life has changed because I’m so exhausted from it. But when you leave at the end of the day, and the house is physically warmer for the people who live there, it’s a great feeling.”

Chamberlin is a graduate of Oregon Tradeswomen’s apprenticeship program and had hoped to get involved with something related to green building. When she couldn’t find a job, Oregon Tradeswomen connected her with Verde.

“Ever since high school I’ve been interested in how homes work,” Chamberlin said. “A lot of these folks don’t even have heaters. We’re getting them up and running with a tight house that provides a comfortable living situation while causing less harm on the environment. My passion was for green building, not weatherization, but this is a backwards way to get there.”

Because most contractors don’t know how to property install insulation, more trained professionals are needed in the field of home weatherization, Neel said. Spending half of a day in a crawl space with a giant piece of insulation isn’t for everyone, though.

“The energy efficiency industry isn’t as glamorous as people think,” Neel said. “Finding the suitable candidate with a willingness to work in a less than desirable place is the trick.”

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For contractor James Faison, Clean Energy Works Portland sounded too good to be true.

The program connects contractors with training, as well as clients, for home weatherization and other residential efficiency projects. It also looks to get more work for historically underused contractors. But Faison said the program cost his company Faison Construction too much for the program’s initial returns.

“Gearing up, it costs several thousand dollars for the training,” Faison said. “Then you have to get the right equipment, which costs several thousand dollars, too.”

Clean Energy Works program director Derek Smith says he is aware of the cost barrier. And before the program expands next year into a statewide effort that will retrofit 6,000 homes, he wants to be sure no contractors are barred from the program due to financial constraints.

“There has been some financial assistance for minority firms to help diversify the initial contractor pool,” Smith said. “Now what we need is a contractor capacity assessment to determine how to fill the gap with training assistance as needed.”

The upfront costs for Clean Energy Works were the biggest challenge for Val Solorzano, owner of Chick of All Trades. She also found herself shelling out thousands of dollars before performing her first project. But the results Solorzano has seen since the projects started to roll in have made her a believer in the program.

“We’ve hired people and our sales are up,” Solorzano said. “The upfront costs were a big concern when we started, but we managed to get over that hurdle.”

When Chick of All Trades entered the program, Solorzano had two staff members go through the required $4,000 training series from the Building Performance Institute. Then she purchased thousands of dollars of new equipment, including a $12,000 blower door to perform weatherization and efficiency projects. Luckily, she received some financial assistance from the city’s Sheltered Market Program for the training. The Sheltered Market Program helps minority-owned, woman-owned and emerging small businesses compete in the construction industry.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today unless the Sheltered Market Program helped pay for the training,” Solorzano said.

While the Sheltered Market Program has been helpful for minority firms, Smith said Clean Energy Works needs to find a way to close the gap for firms outside the Sheltered Market Program.

“We need to do the contractor assessment before we can commit training dollars,” Smith said. “We don’t want to over train and end up with trained people with no work to do.”

Since Faison can’t afford to purchase the new equipment he needs, he plans to lease or rent blowers, trucks and other tools.

The added costs worry Faison at a time when no new projects are coming in, but he says he believes the program will work because of the success he has seen from other Clean Energy Works contractors.

For these companies, the promises made by Clean Energy Works mirror the reality.

Chick of All Trades has been able to hire four employees because of additional work through Clean Energy Works, Solorzano said.Ìý Another company, the Home Energy Life Performance Group Inc., has increased its staff from three to twelve since joining the program, according to owner Berenice Lopez-Dorsey. And at Neil Kelly Company, vice president and general manager Brian McVay said he has hired two new staffers and is looking for a third. All three companies say they have more work coming in than they would have without the Clean Energy Works program.

Faison hopes he’ll be able to say the same thing someday.

“I’m hopeful it will pay off,” Faison said. “There are good people working to make this work. They just haven’t worked all the bugs out yet.”

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A program to retrofit homes and commercial buildings in Oregon will get $20 million in federal stimulus money, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Portland Mayor Sam Adams said today.

The money will pay for the Clean Energy Works Oregon program, which retrofits homes and commercial buildings. Owners get loans for improvements and pay them back on utility or property tax bills.

The federal program will pay $452 million nationwide. More than 150 communities submitted applications totaling $3.5 billion for the program.

Clean Energy Works Portland and the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Technology Act, passed by the 2009 Oregon Legislature, served as models for the grant application.

For eligibility information, and to apply, go .Ìý

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The city of Portland is opening its Clean Energy Works Portland pilot program to the public.

Open for participation by the public for the first time, the pilot will install energy improvements such as new insulation, duct sealing and high efficiency heat pumps in 300 qualifying homes without any upfront costs. Homeowners instead pay for the improvements over 20 years through their utility bill.

Homeowners who apply to participate in the pilot will have their homes evaluated by the Energy Trust of Oregon through a diagnostic testing process. The city has already upgraded about 100 homes. Another pilot this spring will recruit 100 additional homes through neighborhood focused outreach.

The Clean Energy Works program is part of a larger effort by the city, local utilities and workforce groups to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 as well as promote green jobs. To apply, visit .

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