TAP Web Seminars

Revolving Loan Funds: Basics and Best Practices

August 26, 2009

The Technical Assistance Project (TAP) for state and local officials sponsors Web seminars that explore state policies and analysis tools that help advance their renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Here you will find information for how to attend the next seminar, ask questions of the presenter on a blog, and link to presentations and materials from previous seminars in an archive.

• How to attend
• About the presenters
• Background materials
• Upcoming seminars
• Archive
• TAP Webcast blog

The next Web seminar will take place Wednesday, August 26, from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and is titled "Revolving Loan Funds: Basics and Best Practices."

The 2009 Recovery Act provides $3.1 billion for state energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Many states are using this funding to set up revolving loan funds for energy programs because, once established, revolving loan funds are not subject to the 3-year expiration of funds under the Recovery Act. At this Webcast will how to set up a revolving loan fund to increase the impact of Recovery Act funding.

• Revolving Loan Funds: Basics and Best Practices (PDF 632 KB)
• Texas LoanSTAR (PDF 2.2 MB)
• Montana Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program (PDF 236 KB)

How to Attend

You can attend the Webcast via your desktop computer and phone line free of charge, but you must register in advance to obtain the URL and password for logging on via the Internet and the phone number to connect to the audio.

About the Presenters

Samuel Booth is a senior project leader at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His work specializes in project development and finance.

Theresa Sifuentes is program manager of the Texas LoanSTAR program for the past twelve years. LoanSTAR is a revolving loan program created in 1989 and funded by petroleum violation escrow dollars. Legislatively mandated to be funded at a minimum of $95 million, the program has saved more than $152 million through energy efficiency projects financed for state agencies, institutions of higher education, school districts, and local governments in Texas.

LoanSTAR is the largest program of its kind in the United States. Under Sifuentes' oversight, the program has more than doubled in funding and in total cumulative energy savings.

Kathi Montgomery is the manager of the Montana Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program.

Background Materials

Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

You can read the following background materials to prepare for the August 26 Webcast:

• Texas Revolving LoanSTAR
  Feature article written by Theresa Sifuentes and published by the DOE State Energy Program in the February 2005 edition of its newsletter, Conservation Update.

• EPA Brownfields Clean Up Revolving Loan Pilot / Grants
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manages this pilot loan program for cleaning up brownfield sites.

• Best Practices in Revolving Loan Funds in Rural Affordable Housing (PDF 427 KB)
  The Housing Assistance Council, a nonprofit corporation that supports the development of rural low-income housing nationwide, published this report in April 2003.

• Some examples of state revolving loan programs:

  • Texas Loan STAR Revolving Loan Fund
    The Texas State Energy Conservation Office publishes online this summary of its revolving loan program.
  • Utah Public School Energy Efficiency Zero-Interest Loan Program
    The Utah Geological Survey publishes this summary of its loan program for schools.
  • Montana Alternative Energy Loan Fund
    The Montana Department of Environmental Quality publishes this summary of its loan program for homeowners, small businesses, nonprofit agencies, and government entities.

Upcoming Web Seminars

• Feed-in Tariffs:  Best Practices and Applications in the U.S.
  TAP Webcast, October 28, 2009
  Learn about how a number of states and municipalities are considering feed-in tariffs, which have been so successful in Europe, as possibly less expensive than renewable portfolio standards in support of emerging renewable energy technologies. The presenter will be NREL Senior Analyst Karlynn Cory.
• Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Webcasts
  Learn how to use funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants for state and local energy projects.
• Local Climate and Energy Webcast Series
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsors a series of online seminars targeting state and local officials.