Texas Pace Authority – Paolo Piazzesi – 2016

Goals 

The Texas PACE Authority (TPA), which helps secure financing for commercial and industrial properties investing in clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives, enlisted EDF Climate Corps fellow Paolo Piazzesi to perform energy assessment reports of three different properties. Though these properties were interested in implementing efficiency measures in their facilities, they lacked an energy assessment capable of certification by a third-party engineer. Such an assessment, essentially a cost-benefit analysis, is necessary for a property owner to choose the most beneficial efficiency measures as part of project. These assessments, normally at the owner’s expense, can be a substantial obstacle for properties that don’t have a large amount of cash at hand. Paolo’s goal was to remove this barrier by providing them to property owners at no cost. 

Solutions

Paolo worked with an industrial plant, a church and a shelter for victims of abuse. He met with property owners who showed him each property and shared contractor bids for projects they had been considering. After visiting the sites, Paolo analyzed energy use data of each location. He then wrote a report that met the standards certification by an independent engineer and developed a methodology for determining project costs vs. benefits, which was applied to each property. The outcome was an extensive energy assessment with detailed, tailored recommendations for each site. 

Potential Impact

The recommended energy efficiency measures could save 4,578,251 kWh and avoid 3,804 metric tons of CO2 each year. Moving forward, Paolo made sure all key players – property owners, contractors presenting bids, the Texas PACE Authority – were in contact and ready to work towards materializing these investments.