Last week, the Montgomery County Green Bank held an event to celebrate the completion of a milestone energy efficiency project, which enabled the installation of improvements to a large office building in Bethesda, Maryland. The project provides a clear example of how green banks can benefit private capital providers as well as the building’s owners, tenants, and the local community.
For this office building, a major part of the project was to replace the large rooftop heating and cooling unit. The cost of the new heating and cooling unit was $206,000. This project represents the first in a pipeline of projects expected to be financed through the Commercial Loan for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (CLEER) program, a loan-loss reserve program that substantially de-risks the project from a lender’s perspective. Revere Bank provided the loan, which was backed by the Green Bank. Describing their partnership with Montgomery County Green Bank, Revere Bank Co-President and CEO Ken Cook said:
“Revere Bank is pleased to have been able to make this investment in conjunction with our partnership with the Green Bank and we are proud to further express our commitment to clean energy investment in the County.”
The new heating and cooling system will use 17 percent less energy than the old system. In total, with the new system and other improvements to the building’s lighting, envelope, and ductwork, the building will now annually save more than 850,000 kilowatt hours of energy and $110,000 in operating cost, while eliminating 600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
County leaders, lenders, utility representatives, and building tenants all attended the celebration and spoke in support of the project and the Green Bank’s overall contribution to the county’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Building tenants shared their pride in working in a clean, energy-efficient office building, and local elected officials described how the Green Bank is part of the county’s broader push to prioritize clean energy, reduce greenhouse gases, and fight climate change.
For more, see the Montgomery County Green Bank’s press release, as well as local news coverage: