Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 07, 2014
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) honored the HERO PACE financing program, the Western Riverside Council of Governments and San Bernardino Associated Governments as its Clean Air Award Winner for 2014 in the category of Model Community. SCAQMD is the air pollution control agency for all Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
According to the SCAQMD, the Clean Air Award “honors the visionaries in our region who have helped in the fight for clean air through innovation, leadership and exemplary service.”
HERO is a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program. It allows homeowners to finance energy- and water-efficiency improvements through their property tax payments. Homeowners can choose the term of their loan (5-20 years), and interest on the payments is tax deductible. Additionally, PACE assessments transfer to the new owner when the home is sold in most cases.
HERO launched in Western Riverside County in 2011 and was made available to San Bernardino County homeowners shortly thereafter. To date, 192 cities and counties, representing 16 million people, have made HERO available to their residents. HERO has funded improvements which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 568,000 tons, the equivalent of removing 300,000 passenger vehicles from the road for one year. HERO has also created more than 2,600 local jobs in California.
“We are honored to receive this important recognition from air quality regulators in this region, which has made great strides to improve air quality,” said J.P. McNeill, CEO of Renovate America, the company who administers the HERO Program. “We are particularly pleased to be recognized alongside our municipal partners. This program works well for jurisdictions because it supports their efforts to promote cleaner air and increased water conservation at no cost to local governments.”
Renovate America’s HERO Financing Program is the largest and fastest growing residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program in the country. The company partners with local municipalities to provide HERO financing to property owners, who in turn use the program to finance a wide variety of energy efficient products including solar power, HVAC, windows, roofing and water-saving products such as artificial turf.
Renovate America’s HERO Financing Program, has won more than 10 awards including the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in California, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Best of the Best, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) California Top 10 Green Building Policies for Municipalities and Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) President's Award for Excellence.
HERO accepted the SCAQMD Clean Air Award on Friday, October 3, 2014 at the 26th annual Clean Air Award ceremony in Los Angeles. To learn more about HERO visit http://www.HEROProgram.com.