Category Archives: New Jersey

Preparing to Launch Our NJPACE Crowdfunding Campaign

Posted on Tuesday, 5 August, 2014 by | Leave a comment

NJPACEOrg-logoDG-MakeaDonationDeveloping our crowdfunding campaign is giving us an extraordinary opportunity to explore using PACE to revitalize New Jersey communities. By itself, PACE is an innovative business model that creates jobs and economic development while providing the ultimate tool to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on private properties. But leveraging PACE for community development is where the real payoff is, that is to say, for the benefit of the community as a whole.

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Posted in Contribute, Energy, Money, New Jersey, News, NJPACE, Nonprofit Activities, Sustainability

2014 Intersolar New Jersey Summit

Posted on Thursday, 6 March, 2014 by | Leave a comment

New Jersey PACE is proud to be partnering with the upcoming Intersolar Summit – New Jersey taking place on March 20th at the Sheraton Edison Hotel. Through our partnership we are able to provide Discounted Registration to NJPACE Alliance members and CRCS supporters.

Under the slogan “80% Renewable Electricity by 2050 – What does it mean today?”, the Intersolar Summit New Jersey will thoroughly assess the current business climate, future market prospects and feasibility of the aggressive renewable energy targets recently announced. Moreover, delegates will gain an in-depth understanding of the latest policy updates presented by local opinion leaders and receive insights on most up-to-date solutions and technological innovations for the PV market.The preliminary agenda can be found here.

Confirmed high-level speakers include

  • New Jersey State Senator Bob Smith
  • New York State Senator Kevin S. Parker
  • Honorable New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula
  • Richard Lawrence, Executive Director, Executive Director, North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP)
  • Dennis Wilson, President, Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association (MSEIA)
  • Lyle Rawlings, Vice President New Jersey, Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Industries Association (MSEIA)
  • Michael Trahan, Executive Director, Solar Connecticut
  • Tom Thompson, Board Member, Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE)
  • Darren Hammell, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Princeton Power Systems
  • Dr. Richard Perez, Professor, University of Albany
  • Thomas Plagemann, Executive Vice President of Capital Markets, Vivint Solar

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Posted in Energy, Events, New Jersey, News, NJPACE

2013 Annual Report

Posted on Saturday, 1 March, 2014 by | Leave a comment

CRCSannual-report2013sm

Our 2013 Annual Report is designed to convey our vision, and provide an account of the progress we have made toward achieving that vision, in developing the NJPACE program in New Jersey. (Click the title of this entry for a link to the fully report.)

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Posted in CRCS, Energy, New Jersey, NJPACE

PACE Amending Legislation Passes in New Jersey

Posted on Friday, 17 January, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Trenton, N.J., Monday, January 13, 2014: At the very last moment, the NJ State Senate took up and passed Assembly Bill 3898 (an identical version of S2632, introduced by Senator Bob Smith at the beginning of 2013). In an associated statement, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee notes that “this bill provides a mechanism for the financing, by municipalities, of water conservation, storm shelter construction, and flood and hurricane resistance projects, and expands the “clean energy special assessment,” established in current law pursuant to P.L.2011, c.187 (N.J.S.A.40:56-1.4 et al.), into the “clean energy and storm resistance special assessment.”

The bill now heads to the Governor’s office for approval.

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Posted in Energy, Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey, News, NJ Shore, NJPACE

Gov. Florio Cites NJPACE in Year-End NJSpotlight Article

Posted on Friday, 27 December, 2013 by | Leave a comment

In an article highlighted on NJSpotlight as part of an end-of-the-year series of reflections by former NJ governors, Governor Jim Florio writes:

A relatively new program — PACE, which stands for “Property Assessed Clean Energy” — has taken hold in places like Connecticut, California, and Florida and is literally funding thousands of necessary energy efficiency and green energy projects with private capital. And a project in Livingston, New Jersey, is now in its early stages.

The essence of a PACE program is its use of a municipal special property tax assessment to attach the financing to the property, not the owner. This assessment mechanism uses a municipal-government power, but does not cost the municipality a dime. Typically, these projects more than pay for themselves through energy savings, and they provide greater self-sufficiency and reliability, as well as more comfortable and more resilient buildings.

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Posted in Energy, New Jersey, News, NJPACE

CRCS / New Jersey PACE Receives 501c3 Designation

Posted on Thursday, 5 December, 2013 by | 1 comment

The IRS has just issued its letter approving our request for 501c3 tax exemption, which now makes it possible for us to accept (and issue receipts for) tax-deductible donations, apply for foundation grants, and conduct other fundraising activities. CRCS, the parent organization for the nonprofit New Jersey PACE program, is now ready to undertake its first administrative and educational initiatives on behalf of municipalities in New Jersey. (For more details on NJPACE, please visit www.NewJerseyPACE.org.)

Many organizations may take this approval for granted, but since we worked pretty hard to get it we do not. The process of obtaining the IRS approval included an intensive discussion of our goals and methods of operation. Here’s part of what we told them, by way of a description of our mission and purposes.

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Posted in CRCS, New Jersey, Nonprofit Activities

CRCS Develops New Jersey PACE Program

Posted on Monday, 3 June, 2013 by | 1 comment

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is a mechanism that allows energy efficiency and renewable energy projects to be financed at reasonable rates. PACE works by attaching a special assessment to the property, not a liability to the owner. The funding is then repaid over the life of the installed equipment, anywhere from 5 – 20 years. Using a property tax assessment has many benefits:

  • The senior position allows lenders to offer low interest rates because the property is collateral, not the installed equipment.
  • Energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations have been hindered by high up-front costs. PACE financing spreads the cost over the useful life of the equipment, which provides savings that exceed cost on an annual basis.
  • The obligation is attached to the property, not the owner, making it easy to invest in energy projects even if the owner plans on selling the property.

PACE is clearly a practical example of a “regenerative community solution”: it creates jobs, energy efficiency, and sustainable improvements to property, especially the enormous amount of commercial and industrial property now vacant or underutilized in New Jersey. We’ve chosen to focus our efforts on C&I properties, but we anticipate that residential PACE will be reinstated federally as well. (For an explanation of the issues with Residential PACE, see “National groups submit more than 38000 comments on residential-pace,” at our NJ PACE  web site, www.NJPACE.net.)

CRCS has devised and developed the NJ PACE program as a statewide public-private-nonprofit initiative. The program requires municipal approval, along with the participation of private lenders, energy contractors, and property owners. The Center views it as an integral part of its mission to educate, advocate, and implement this kind of program, which once launched will be managed by a separate company, NJ PACE, LLC (with 20% of profits returned to the nonprofit entity).

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Posted in CRCS, New Jersey, NJPACE

Rebuilding NJ Shore Communities

Posted on Tuesday, 12 February, 2013 by | Leave a comment

This article was originally published in the Dead River Journal on February 12, 2013 – see http://deadriverjournal.org/regenerating-nj-shore-communities):

115-IMG_8878smThrough our new nonprofit, the Center for Regenerative Community Solutions (CRCS), we have begun the work of rebuilding NJ’s shore communities in a more sustainable way. As part of the basis for this work, we’ve published the following article, originally posted January 12, 2013, and most recently revised February 11, 2012: RegeneratingNewJerseyShoreCommunitiesJan2013r

We’ve also been sharing the following message with a number of Shore-based and statewide nonprofits:

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Posted in CRCS, Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey, NJ Shore, Permaculture, Sustainability

Seeking Sustainable Growth in the Wake of Sandy

Posted on Tuesday, 12 February, 2013 by | Leave a comment

This article was originally published on December 30, 2012 in the Dead River Journal (Seeking Sustainable Growth in the Wake of Sandy)

vzelin2010-150The Center for Regenerative Community Solutions and Regenerative Community Ventures, Inc. have recently circulated a position paper on “Laying a Foundation for Sustainable Growth in New Jersey in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy” with policy makers and community leaders in the state. Here is a final version, and several excerpts. The authors are co-founders of the Center for Leadership in Sustainability, the Sustainable Leadership Forum, and Acumen Technology Group, LLC. Jonathan Cloud is Senior Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Managing Partner, Acumen Technology Group, LLC. Victoria Zelin is Principal, Regenerative Community Ventures, Inc., a licensee of Unified Field Corporation.

Superstorm Sandy has dramatically altered NJ’s economy as well as its geography for years to come. While there may be a short-­?term “bounce” from the money spent on reconstruction, the thinking about how that rebuilding should be carried out is already moving very quickly toward the view that it needs to be substantially more hurricane-­? proof and disaster-­?resistant, more resilient, and — in a word — more sustainable.

This paper sets out some considerations and recommendations for creating a foundation for sustainable growth in New Jersey, describes some of the initiatives we are taking through our new nonprofit organization, the Center for Regenerative Community Solutions, and makes specific suggestions for policies and programs for state and local government to support these and similar initiatives from other organizations.

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Posted in CRCS, Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey, NJ Shore, Sustainability

It Will Not Be the Same

Posted on Tuesday, 29 January, 2013 by | Leave a comment

From: Erickson, Mitchell <mitchell.erickson@hq.dhs.gov>
Date: Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 7:34 PM
Subject: Jersey shore video–Sandy+3months

3 months ago, Sandy rocked our lives.

This essay is a  moving reflection on the character of the Jersey shore and the prospects for restoration.  People who are committed, or not…  A recognition that it will not be the same.  A hope that it will not become “anyplace USA”.
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Posted in Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey, NJ Shore