Financing Energy Efficient Buildings: The Way Forward

The Penn Institute for Urban Research and the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (a DOE initiative) presented a symposium on: The Future of Financing Energy Efficient Buildings. 

Nancy Wallace, Professor and Chair of the Real Estate Group at The University of California Berkeley, presented “Commercial Mortgages and Incentives for Energy Efficiency Investments.” Dr. Wallace discussed methods for overcoming barriers to widespread adoption of energy retrofits, including  providing lower cost financing to borrowers and incentivizing retrofit implementation. 

The symposium also included a panel of industry experts including Scott Muldavin, Executive Director, Green Building Finance Consortium, Baxter Wasson, Director of Credit Structuring, Deutsche Bank; James Finlay, VP Commercial Real Estate Appraisal Manager, Wells Fargo; and Michael Meehan, CEO, Zerofootprint. Panelists provided further insights on the barriers to retrofit (including informational and appraisal) and how such barriers can be overcome, and will discuss the  role for securitization moving forward.

This seminar provided participants with the opportunity to discuss research on the impact of energy efficiency on the valuation of commercial mortgages, and explored how energy efficiency can be factored into the appraisal and valuation of commercial buildings.