City of Cleveland – Abraham Weiner – 2013

Goals

Abraham Weiner was hired to help shape a long-term strategy for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. The City does not have a dedicated energy efficiency budget, so research on alternative financing was necessary in regards to the long-term strategy for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability.

Solutions

Weiner analyzed how to best finance needed energy efficiency upgrades for the City of Cleveland’s aging facilities. Weiner also drafted a Request for Proposal (RFP) for detailed investment grade energy audits of a few City facilities, including City Hall, developed a financial model for retro-commissioning and developed a report with a case study on energy efficiency financing options for the underserved commercial sector in Cleveland. 

Weiner conducted an in-depth analysis of Cleveland’s potential options by interviewing more than 20 key stakeholders such as financiers, City officials, contractors, consultants and managers at private and non-profit institutions who are implementing energy efficiency programs. Following these discussions, Weiner short-listed a few recommendations for the City to review and pursue further. The recommendations were based on criteria such as competitive interest rates, favorable balance sheet treatment and ease of implementation, among others. One such recommendation involved a turnkey solution with pooled bond funds and off-balance sheet treatment.

Potential Impact

Weiner discovered $55,000 in potential forward capacity credit that could be realized from a series of municipal lighting retrofit projects that were completed in 2012.