Simon Properties Projects in Houston, Hays County Exceed $4 million in PACE Investment
HOUSTON - The City of Houston and Hays County today announced the closing of their first commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) projects at the Houston Premium Outlets and San Marcos Premium Outlets. Combined, the Simon Properties projects will receive over $4 million in energy and water saving retrofit investments financed by Petros PACE Finance. The Houston Premium Outlet project is the largest PACE project in Texas to date.
“Houston is the energy capital of the world and has a responsibility to lead by example and use our energy resources as efficiently as possible,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “We created the Houston PACE program to help Houston businesses access low-cost financing and lower their utility bills. We’re thrilled our first PACE project – the largest in Texas – is at the Houston Premium Outlets and we hope more businesses will follow their lead.”
PACE is an innovative financing program that enables owners of commercial and industrial properties to obtain low-cost, long-term loans for water conservation, energy-efficiency improvements, and distributed generation retrofits. It can be difficult for businesses to keep up with the ever-increasing Houston electricity rates, so anything that can be done to help to keep them down is a good step forward, whether that is using a comparison site to check for the best rates or the use of the PACE program.
PACE financing will fund energy and water efficiency improvements at both outlet malls. Examples of efficiency improvements include: interior and exterior LED lighting, HVAC replacement, smart glass, heat reducing awning technology, replacement of hundreds of faucets, and conservation updates to water features and irrigation technology.
Combined, Anticipated Savings Benefits at Houston Premium Outlets and San Marcos Premium Outlets:
- Annual electricity use will be reduced by 2,546,000 kWh
- Annual water savings of over 11,500,000 gallons of water per year
- Carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e) reduction of over 1,845 tonnes per year
- Sulfur oxide emissions (SOX) reductions just under one tonne each year
- Nitrogen oxide emissions (NOX) reductions exceeding 3 tonnes annually
Closing projects in different cities on the same day demonstrates the benefits of the uniform Texas “PACE in a Box” model used in every Texas PACE program. To date, the counties of Brazos, Cameron, El Paso, Fort Bend, Hays, Hidalgo, Jefferson, Nueces, Travis, Willacy, and Williamson as well as the cities of Dallas and Houston have established PACE in a Box programs administered by the Texas PACE Authority.
For more information on Houston’s PACE program, visit http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/