The Long Beach Sierra Club will host a free presentation about the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 6 at the Environmental Services Bureau, 2929 East Willow St., Long Beach. The program is open to the public.The countywide Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing Program is expected to launch soon.
Howard Choy, director of Los Angeles County’s newly formed Office of Sustainability, will explain the PACE Program, which provides financing for energy projects to homes, apartments, businesses and other privately-owned buildings. Property owners repay the low-interest loans through their tax bills.
Meanwhile, Norma and Alan Williamson will teach you how any home – whether you rent or own – can become a zero energy home, generating more energy than it consumes. Their “Zero Energy Home Makeover” could make you nearly energy independent and even pay that PACE tax bill with the money you make selling power to the electric company.
The couple has done this with their own Cerritos home. They’ve been the cover story of Solar Today magazine and their solar home was featured in the nova documentary “Saved By The Sun,” which aired on PBS.
Norma Williamson, a high school teacher, launched and coordinates Reach For The Sun, the solar energy academy at La Mirada High School. Her husband Alan is solar energy installation supervisor for Grid Alternatives and holds certifications from the Institute Of Heating And Air Conditioning Industries and the Building Performance Institute.
Choy’s career in the energy industry includes assignments with the nation’s largest municipal utility, as a utility industry consultant and as energy division manager for Los Angeles County. During the past several years he has helped the County meet growing regulatory and policy directives through the development and implementation of the County Energy & Environmental Policy and the County Office of Sustainability.
The Long Beach Group is part of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club. The group has more than 3,000 members and serves Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Signal Hill and Seal Beach.
