Memphis launches nonprofit to finance energy efficiency | News #CashNews.co

“When you think about what the people in our community need, energy efficiency is one of the things that people really don’t think about at the top of their mind, but they do when they pay their utility bills,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young said.

Mayor Young was the former director of the city’s Housing and Community Development Department. Young told FOX13 that he used to get a lot of questions about home improvement resources.

“One of the questions that I would get at least once a week was what resources are available to assist families in being able to improve their homes?” Young said.

The Green Bank is in the beginning stages of forming. Michael Harris, President/CEO of the Memphis Metropolitan Land Bank Authority, told FOX13 the organization is working right now to build up money before lending it out.

“We’re going to launch a capital campaign to build a revolving loan fund so that we can generate the revenue to then open up the applications,” said Harris. “The EPA sent about 50 billion dollars to the National Green Bank Consortium to help establish green banks like ours, so we do intend to go and apply there. We’ve already applied for the EPA change grant.”

Harris said, in the meantime, the organization will focus on educating the community on how they can become more energy efficient and where they can get support. Harris said the goal is to launch the loan fund at the beginning of 2025. Once launched, people will then be able to apply for assistance.

Beverly Robertson, Memphis Metropolitan Green Financial Corporation Board Chair, told FOX13 a goal of the board is to ensure the funding goes to people who have already felt the impact of poor air quality, pollution, and more.

“Some already have been diagnosed with cancer. Some have other maladies,” said Robertson. “We’ve got to be able to take that funding to address those communities, so we don’t make those mistakes over and over and over again.”

In the long-term, improvements made possible by the Green Bank could lead to lower energy costs, improve the city’s air quality, and make Memphis more resilient to climate change effects.

“It benefits the families that are in the home, it benefits their pockets, and it benefits the environment,” said Mayor Young.