PETALUMA, Calif., Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ygrene Energy Fund, a leading provider of residential and commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing for energy efficiency, resiliency, renewables, and water conservation, is participating this week in the California Economic Summit. The summit, presented by California Forward and the California Stewardship Network, takes place on November 15 and 16, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Rosa, California.
"Ygrene is honored to participate in this year's Economic Summit. At a time when environmental challenges are on the rise, Ygrene is deeply committed to addressing property owners' needs by building resilient communities in the face of wildfires and other natural disasters," said Mike Lemyre, Ygrene Senior Vice President for Government Affairs.
Earlier this year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 465, the Wildfire Safety Finance Act, into law, helping Californians better prepare for natural disasters like the wildfires that have devastated communities across our state in recent years. Effective January 1, SB 465 gives communities in high fire zones the ability to use PACE to finance wildfire safety improvements for residential and commercial properties. Through the Wildfire Safety Finance Act, residents in vulnerable areas will have greater access to low-cost, long-term financing options to make their property more resilient.
"Boosting fire resiliency is just one of the ways Ygrene is working to help communities address these challenges," Lemyre continued. "An effective tool like this to help everyone be better prepared can only help our communities and our state meet its environmental, economic and natural disaster preparedness goals."
The Economic Summit includes a comprehensive agenda addressing some of California's biggest challenges, including creating community resiliency during a time of climate change. Resiliency discussions fit well into the agenda developed by the Economic Summit because the gathered leaders will be setting priorities for state and regional action on several fronts. Ygrene will help lead the Resiliency in Every Community working group session, focusing on PACE's critical role to build more sustainable, resilient communities and explaining how the PACE program helps state and local governments reach economic and environmental goals without impacting public budgets.
Ygrene offers broad access to low-interest financing for property upgrades, allowing more Californians to take steps to upgrade properties and use fire-resistant materials and designs that previously were cost-prohibitive. With built-in consumer protections, PACE's long-term financing structure makes energy and resiliency improvements more affordable and accessible than other types of home improvement financing, like costly credit cards and bank loans. The increased availability of PACE financing provides Californians access to better energy efficiency, fire and natural disaster resiliency improvements.
About Ygrene
Ygrene's award-winning PACE program, with built-in consumer protections, is delivering greater choice for home and business owners by providing accessible and affordable financing for energy efficiency, resiliency, renewables, water conservation, storm preparedness and seismic upgrades. Recognized as one of the fastest growing asset classes in the country, PACE has proven to be a successful tool for supporting public policy initiatives, all without the use of public tax dollars or credits. By providing over $1 billion of private capital to more than 550 local communities, Ygrene has created thousands of jobs and invested millions into local economies across the U.S. Learn more at ygrene.com.
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