Miami to partake in energy efficiency program for commercial buildings

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Richard Branson
A business consortium that includes technology firm Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank will invest up to $650 million to make a series of buildings in Miami and Sacramento more energy efficient, the New York Times reported.

As of now the investment is focused on commercial properties, and the consortium will use a tax arrangement that allows for energy upgrades at no cost. The building owners would pay back the companies over a five-to-20 year period, but the bills would be worth less than the energy savings.

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“We are so used to reaching our hand out and saying, ‘Washington, we need this,’ and ‘Tallahassee, give us that,'” said Edward MacDougall, the mayor of Cutler Bay, Fla., a Miami suburb that took the lead in setting up the deal in that region. “This is really a home-grown mechanism where we don’t need to do that.”

The consortium was put together by the Carbon War Room, a non-profit Washington-based environmental group set up by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. [NYT]