Today's guest is John Kinney, Founder, CEO and Managing Partner at CleanFund.
CleanFund specializes in PACE financing, an innovative way for property owners to finance public good improvements to their buildings, including clean energy, efficiency, and resiliency through their property taxes. CleanFund got its start in Berkeley, California in 2009 and initiated the first privately funded PACE transaction focused on solar power. Since then, PACE financing options have taken hold in dozens of states across the USA, and CleanFund serves as an enabling mechanism in all of them. CleanFund specifically focuses on C-PACE or Commercial PACE, which means that it's wholly focused on commercial buildings. C-PACE can be applied to new construction or building retrofit projects, and the types of projects that qualify for C-PACE vary by state or locality.
It's going to take new ways of thinking about things for us to drive the decarbonization of our economy as fast as possible. With CleanFund, John is focusing on the huge emissions footprint of the built environment and is helping property managers and lenders unlock new tools to finance needed clean energy upgrades.
In this episode, we cover:
- John's transition from fitness into climate
- An overview of PACE or “Property Assessed Clean Energy”
- Difference between residential and commercial PACE
- Impacts of building regulations and penalties
- New Hyatt construction example in Salt Lake City
- An overview of CleanFund and its role in PACE
- Who's on the capital side of PACE products
- How CleanFund interacts with green banks at the state level
- Forecasting the future of energy efficiency in the built environment
- Innovative approaches to addressing emissions in the space
- The challenges of working in commercial real estate
- How to engage with CleanFund and learn more about PACE at CleanFun.com
- CleanFund's plans for expanding
Get connected:
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CleanFund
MCJ Podcast / Collective
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Episode recorded on February 24, 2023.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
