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Current Blog Posts
Rate Structures Don’t Kill Budgets, Inaccurate Projections Do
Jeff Hughes is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center. I’ve come to the opinion that rate structures, particularly those that are designed to promote conservation and water efficiency, may be getting a bad rap…
Three States, Three Different Statutory Frameworks for PACE Programs
Matt Harris is the Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for the Environmental Finance Center. Adam Parker and Jeff Hughes wrote the paper referenced below, which is available on the Environmental Finance Center website at: http://efc.unc.edu/publications.html#PACE While…
Using an Index to Help Project Capital Costs Into the Future
Update: This blog post and the graph were updated on February 10, 2021 to reflect more recent price index estimates and trends. Sitting at your desk very late in the afternoon, your coffee going cold,…
The slow march forward of utilities embracing rainwater harvesting as an alternative water supply
Christine E. Boyle, PhD is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Environmental Finance Center. Dr. Boyle investigates new models for sustainable local water and energy provision. Despite mounting evidence that rainwater harvesting systems present a cost-effective option for…
Hidden Residential Irrigation in NC
Mary Tiger is the Chief Operating Officer for the Environmental Finance Center at UNC. Over the past four years, the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) conducted in-depth analysis of residential customers of some of North Carolina’s…
Service Line Protection: Homeowners and Utilities Can Benefit
Guest author Catherine Noyes is an Associate Consultant at Raftelis Financial Consultants. Since October, 2010, the Houston-Galveston area has suffered from one of the worst droughts on record. According to the Area Council’s Clean Rivers…
Clean Energy Durham makes headway in achieving energy efficiency in Halifax EMC territory.
Christine E. Boyle, PhD is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Environmental Finance Center. Dr. Boyle investigates new models for sustainable local water and energy provision. In the world of energy efficiency programming, relatively few programs have focused…
Who pays, and who benefits?
Glenn Barnes is a senior project director at the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina. Glenn is the project manager of the Sustainable Finance for Wetland Programs project funded by the U.S….