efficiency and water conservation, all kinds of weatherization programs. we are going to take the one bird and out of the equation of going green. in your home or your place of business. we are going to move to the barrier across and then there is nothing that will stop us from raising the bar in terms of sustainability. this is of the rising $150 million for this kind of weatherization. if you are wanting to switch out your light bulbs, and the next- door neighbor has a grade solar project -- has a great solar project, and you say, i want to change out my water heater, or

have an electric car that is coming later this year. i have to use this down at work or the big parking garage. now you have the opportunity to do all of these things. you can do all of these things. you can learn how to apply. at the end of the day, we are not just reducing greenhouse gases but also your energy consumption. you are making a good investment

in terms of reducing your market costs. finance this on the back of your property tax. so you did not have to pay this back. over the course of five or 20 years. this does not go with you. if you have your home or your industrial building, this is part of the up-front cost of weatherizing your house. the new property will have to be disclosed upon transfer. you are reducing the operational costs of your home and i truly believe -- i will turn this over

to the experts in a moment. this is one of the most significant things that we can be doing for the environmental solution in this country. we have the low-interest, deductible loans that go against the property aspects and not against the individual. we can create the incentive. not just for you as a residential home owner, or you as a commercial or industrial property owner. we have the out-of-pocket costs. this will substantially decrease the greenhouse gas emissions. and the energy consumption. i am ecstatic about this.

i apologize for being a little bit more animated. i do not have my talking points or any of that. this is coming from my head. this makes economic sense, and at the end of the day, this creates jobs. we cannot forget that every single one of the people that will be doing the energy audits and the word and the weather is asian, and the water conservation work -- weatherizing, and water conservation work, this is a green-collar job. we have to make certain that we have the workforce that is trained to do this. i will turn this over to someone who understands the workforce and how this is working. the guiding light behind all of this, with his former boss, the

mayor of berkeley who initiated this a number of years ago. in san francisco we are competitive. we want to take this to a completely new level and this is what we are doing today. fill out application and get started. we will get you certified and then, ultimately we will get the project moving. it's a good vantage of the original genius of cisco and the good work of eric mar and others. where did you come up with this idea? this was going to change the dynamic in terms of the environmental stewardship. that is a different paradigm with energy efficiency and water

conservation. what was the inspiration. >> this is the largest program of this kind in the country. we have the model that was said here that will be launched today. i was trying to get -- the solar power, and i had a couple of offers and i thought, i was working for mayor baker in the city of berkeley and this should be easy. i care about this stuff and i work for this in my job. we began to talk about we have below-cost problem -- we talk

about -- we have below-cost problem. >> this is the traditional base program. >> this is the general term that was given for this. what has happened here and what we are all doing in san francisco is not to scale. there is a new focus on auditing houses, so if you want the solar power, this is great. but if you actually want to reduce the energy efficiency to save money -- >> if you have solar power, they will not say that they can reduce the utility bill by $50. they will talk about energy efficiency, and also, you need to be weatherizing and looking at the prospect of doing this because everyone else around town is doing this. we can put all this together.

that is the bundling of the different proposals. >> and we have someone who can do the evaluation. this is not just saving the money on solar, but also, if you do the other things that you have to take care of, putting this together will take financing. but you will save more money right away with the extra measures. >> is water conservation part of what the other cities are doing. >> we have seen some of the measures for water conservation but to put this in and the work that you have done at the public utilities commission, the series of incentives and measures that you have right now, not only do you have the water measures but you have the whole system with how people do this.

people did not think about water very much but this is a big part of everything with the businesses. >> this is the brainchild in terms of the city's efforts. we have strong leadership from the board. this program -- people can literally go on-line, and they can fill out an application online to learn about their ability to take the advantage of this offer. what are the restrictions? can anybody walked in -- what in -- walk in? >> they can fill out the applications on line. if they do not have access to the internet, they can go to the branch library and fill this

out right there. basically, you will go on-line and as the system mentions, the first that is understanding what will make the most sense for you in your house. you are getting someone to help you understand the needs of your specific building. we see people who want to come in and just to solar power. how can i save myself more money, faster. my bill came down from $85 to $25. >> and that is all that you are spending? >> this was working very well for us. we started regulating the energy efficiency. we are getting a payback from $6 to one year. we are hoping that this program

will be helping others. and i should mention that for those of you who were watching, there are a number of ways to submit questions about the green finance program. you can go to greenfinancesf.org, or through the ustream page, linked from that website and the mayor's website. and you can tweet questions with #green -- and this sis closed-captioned at sfgtv.org. >> and by the way, any of you who are out there watching, we had the similar interactive town hall. you can tune in and connect and

this is part of the open- government initiative. we have the downloaded information or people are doing this to the applications, i think we have the innovative programs -- they will say that this is not that exciting. i appreciate that you took the time to be here. the goal is to raise awareness. there is the knowledge that you now possess, and you can digest this knowledge in a way when you can make recommendations would take actions yourself. and again, we just want to raise the bar. this city has one of the most aggressive local climate

plants, focusing on the greenhouse gas emissions. the most aggressive green building standards in the country. we have better solar power than the rest of the country. can you take advantage of the existing options or do you have to choose one or the other? >> you can absolutely take advantage of all of the above. you have a program which will give you the correct -- give you the grant, and that this is sponsored out of the government workforce we will give you a higher incentive. you can take advantage of the statewide california initiative program and the tax credits. you can finance the balance of that through the growth finance program. we will not allow you to finance the rebates. but everything that you would

not get them taken off at the very front end. >> you have a lot of experience with this. i made a statement that some people may consider audacious. you can get a check -- is that possible? >> what we all started with was, if this is not simple, people will not do this. we are trying to make life easier. you have to be evaluated. generally speaking -- you apply within a few days. you will get your check. >> can you send this to your contractor who will do the work. >> your contractor is a

relationship between yourself and the property owner. when the work is doene and you are filling out your paperwork, you can sign it over to the contractor. >> a huge budget deficit in san francisco. i can't believe i am hearing this. $150 million, the streets are dirty. what is happening in san francisco. >> not one dime is out of the general fund. it is financed with municipal bonds. we were awarded some grant funds to help us buy down the incentive rate and to help us buy down the interest rate and the interest rate overall

. we have some grant funds covering the costs of managing the program. the bulk fo thof the funding is through private financing. >> the taxpayers are not on the hook for this. the authorization comes from municipal government. with all the liquidity crisis, this financing is available. this is shoveel-ready? >> the money is ready to go. what is important is we have the repayment through the property tax. it made a lot of things -- people didn't want to invest in this. the nice thing is there is a

repayment stream. the money can be available now. >> you mentioned, i caught that. there are interest rates. 30% interest rates? or is this 10%? can i deduct my interests against -- can you deduct this? >> you can do this. you should check in with your tax advisor. the interest rate is 7%. just like when you go to close on a mortgage, there are financing fees that go on top of this. the bond rate is 7%. we are trying to keep that. we are getting some funding for the roleout of the -- rollout of

the program. we are putting this forward at the get-go. we are offering this at 7%. and then, we think that after that grant, the interest rates will depend on market conditions. we are trying to keep this through the rollout of the program. as more finance providers become familair with the pace model, we will have a wider pool of finance providers. >> a perfect segue from kate 98, where does the financing comes from? -- come from? >> renewable funding is providing financing.

private capital to fund the project. you went through a bidding process? >> it was very competitive and we are happy to be part of the team. >> will there be a limit on the size of solar power in a home? that is a good, broad question. can you do $150 million? i know you have some fanciful ideas. >> there is a minimum of $5,000. there is no maximum -- there is a minimum for commercial properties, no max. >> you can do a million-dollar installation. >> you can't finance anything

worhth more than $10. >> no maximum, minimum $5,000. a $50,000 max on residential. >> another question about how much solar you can put on your home. there is a limit to the amount of solar. you can't put more than you use. >> from bobby w at 94117. can this work -- this parlays o ff the question. can this work for a 110-unit condo? you are a condo?

again. a large apartment building, this is available. >> some properties are more complicated than others. if you are going to look for energy efficiency in the unit, if you are in a rental complex, the project itself comes in under the commercial. you have to work with the common areas, that directly benefit everybody. you have to work this out between the owner and the renter. >> this is from daniel. he says, i would like to challenge the mayor to get an energy audit. i need to do that right now. if i took the advantage of the financing, this would be in the paper as something wrong and i do not know if i can get away

with this. and there are 150 million other people and this is available to everybody else. i just purchased a new home, and this was long overdue. i can outfit this to make certain that this is baby-proof. the baby is considering walking. this is too much information. dr. chris via twitter, is there a list of technologies supported by the loan program? >> if you go to greenfinancesf.org, there is a list of the eligible measures. >> when do you expect the other counties to be involved in this? you are starting to do this to scale right now?

>> we have authorized this across the country. we have this in oklahoma and the state of texas. this is around the bay area, a number of programs coming on line later this year. this is in santa clara, and we see a number of programs launching, and to the north they have a great program in sonoma. >> and you have mentioned these larger states. this is 150 million -- locally, and honestly, why should you not scale this? have they proposed anything similar. >> they have passed the legislation, and this is the first step. they are looking for different ways to make them do these programs, to be less expensive.

they are pulling together for these programs. many of these cities, they are trying to get this together for the program, big and small. with the state has done is create a big structure that will allow the city of san francisco to figure this out. >> thank you for watching. there has to be something else on television tonight. will schools be involved in this? unfortunately, they are not going to do this. but we can start charging. >> i will take note of this. >> they do not pay property

taxes. we are doing a lot of work with the public schools. we have the schoolyards and education around the environment. we are doing solar in partnership with the third-party providers, providing the incentive. we are not advocating the responsibility. with the new public schools that have been built, i mentioned the green building requirements that have to make investments that require the highest levels of sustainability in terms of the recycling programs. we even have gotten so prescriptive that we are starting to look at banning certain kinds of light bulbs.

even the energy-efficient light bulbs. for what it is worth, all the light poles that you see on the city streets, the kind of look like this. they are called cobra head. we have almost 20,000 of these and we will begin to convert them. we are going to work to make this city the most efficient in terms of creating all of the outdoor lights. this is the most efficient manner that we can do this in. this is from collin sd. can you pay for the improvements and get a loan for the rest of them? >> you can finance the amount of to the total amount that is necessary, but if you want to

take less, this is fine. >> you do not have to do everything. if you want to do 5000 as the minimum, you will need to stop right there. this is from -- they say, how are the values of the property being affected? is this in the city records or is this independent? >> this is a sophisticated question. there is probably someone who has owned a house for a long time. in california, if you have been the owner of your house for a long time, the carbon tax is increased. the assessed value is involved very well. when you look at this, you see that this is very conservative. the value might be $100,000 or

$200,000. you have to look to the market value. this is a two-tier test. >> can we use this -- i would just read the question. can you use this for a power generator? >> yes. >> that was easy. >> if you just want to do renewable energy, just with the wind energy, we ask that you make a 20% energy improvement because we are trying to get people -- we are encouraging people to save money the best way that they possibly can. and we encourage people to show inefficiency improvement and we will give you the loans for

renewable energy. >> and how do you quantify this? this is 30%. you have to certify this with the city, -- >> if your uncle is a certain kind of energy auditor, it will get very technical. but if they have a certain license to conduct certain kinds of energy audits, then they will come in, and they will do the pre-audit and you will do your work. this is where the program is moving in the long term. and because some of these programs are developed in the industry, we have a list of prescriptive measures. the measures that have been proven to be the lowest-hanging fruit, we have a list of those on the web site. and you can do