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84 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

variation of the 2IR model, which is a bridge to the GIR, is the PACE
(PropertyAssessedClean Energy)program startedin2008in Berkeley,
California, whereby home owners can install solar systems on their buildings,
for example, but pay for them from a long-term supplemental tax that is
transferred with the sale of the property assessment on their property taxes.
The financing is secured with a lien on the property taxes, which acquires a
priority lien over existing mortgages. The program was put on hold in July
2010 when the Federal Housing Finance Agency expressed concerns about
the regulatory challenge and risk posed by the priority lien established by
PACE loans. Nevertheless, the US Department of Energy continues to sup-
port PACE.
The dramatic change to the GIR, however, moves past that financial barrier.
Mortgages are part of the long-term cost for owning a property. Therefore in
the GIR, the conservation and efficiency for the 2IR technologies in buildings
can be enhanced with the renewable energy power, smart green grids, storage
devices, and other technologies through mortgages that can be financed from
one owner to another over decades (20e30 years or more). This sustainable
finance mortgage model is a long-term or a LCA framework and provides for
technologies and installation costs to the consumer that makes the GIR
attainable with a short time. Changes, updates,and new technologies can easily
be substituted and replace the earlier ones. It is needed that the banking and
lending industries try this GIR finance model on selected areas. After some
case studies the model can be replicated or changed as needed.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
RECOMMENDATIONS
The basic point of this chapter is to highlight the need for economics to be
more scientific in its hypothesis and data collection. Furthermore, the eco-
nomics of the 2IR and the GIR are very similar if not parallel, for example, the
role of government since it must often take the first steps in directing, creating,
and financing technologies. As the 2IR needed government to help drill for oil
and gas as well as mine for coal, the government needed to build rail and road
transportation systems to transport the fuels from one place to another.
The GIR is very much in the same economic situation. The evidence can be
seen in Asia and the European Union. And especially now in China, the central
government plans for environment and related technologies help the nation
move into the GIR. Moreover, there is a strong need for financial support, not
tax breaks or incentives, but investments, grants, and purchasing, for GIR
technologies, such as renewable energy. This can be seen in the United States
today with the debate over smart grids. What are they? And who pays for
them? When the smart grid is defined as a utility, then the government must