Page 13 - NBIZ February 2021

AS A TOOL Houston became “Space City”, and the capital” resulting in “numerous again that it is a city leading change
Johnson Space Center was born.
by providing tools for its business
benefits including increased property
leaders who see PACE as an economic
value, lower operating costs, and better
For the average business owner,
FOR LOCAL the goal is simple: reduce the cost financing terms.” At the time that the and environmental savings measure.
to increase profit and use said profit
plan was published in early 2020, four
Businesses and nonprofits are using
PACE projects had been completed in
elsewhere. One of the easiest ways
the Houston PACE program to im-
BUSINESSES business owners in Texas, and in the City of Houston. In just one year, prove their properties, expanding
these benefits to the greater Houston
Houston in particular, can do this,
amid a pandemic, this number already
is through the use of the Houston
PACE program, administered by doubled. Houston demonstrated communities.
the Texas PACE Authority. Houston
PACE helps commercial and nonprofit
property owners obtain the affordable
long-term financing necessary to
slash energy and water consumption,
substantially lowering operating costs
to the benefit of the building owners
and their tenants.
In the last five years, Houston has
been hit hard. Since 2015, there have
been numerous storms and floods,
including Hurricane Harvey and
Tropical Storm Imelda, that have quite
literally put this city underwater. What
is remarkable about Houston, though,
is its ability to bounce back to some-
thing stronger and more sustainable
through tools like PACE. The resiliency
of the Houston community is nothing
short of extraordinary. The strength
of this city cannot rely on the hearts of
those in it alone; it must be matched
and supported by improvement to the
city’s infrastructure.

HOUSTON CLIMATE
ACTION PLAN
After Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017,
it was obvious that something needed
to be done on a city-wide level. In the
immediate aftermath of the storm,
Mayor Turner commissioned the
Houston Climate Action Plan (HCAP),
a comprehensive and community-based
plan of how to once again put Houston
in the spotlight as a city of innovation
and prosperity. The grand goal of this
plan is to make Houston not only the
energy capital of the world of the past
and present but also of the future.
HCAP was published in 2020,
laying out specific goals including
doubling the number of PACE projects
in the City by the year 2025. The city
emphasized its PACE program as a tool
for “building owners to upgrade facility
infrastructure with little to no upfront

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