Page 248 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

222 Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Bank makes funds available at lower rates and to projects that do not neces-
sarily qualify for bank financing. The Energy Commission has identified a
number of financing tools available to assist private firms obtain the loans
necessary to start their businesses. In particular, a number of new tools are
available for regional and community-distributed generation (DG) capacity,
purchase of energy savings equipment, retrofits, etc.
For the consumer market in partnership with utilities and homebuilders, the
USA Federal Housing Authority has established a new Energy Efficient
Mortgage that has been rolled out by the California Housing Finance Agency.
Publicity about it and its benefits to the state can increase its use and the
energy savings associated with housing that goes well beyond minimum
standards.
Finally, it is important to note that the public role is not likely to include
much in the way of funding in the future. The state budget is over $25 billion
short, and the new governor has taken deep cuts in virtually all existing pro-
grams, and has had to borrow large amounts of money from bond markets.
This means that even state-supported bonds, which have lower interest rates,
will not be available for other uses because there are limits to the amount of
money the state can raise without becoming fiscally unstable. That point may
near.

The Civic Markets at Work
The third issue involved in the new economics of energy concerns the interface
between electricity firms and the state. Under regulation and deregulation the
issue was to control the market power of the large utilities to assure that they
did not overcharge; the new energy economics aims to assure that the market is
broadened to include the broader concept of public good including environ-
mental protection, economic growth, and long-term stability. Especially after
the energy crisis the commodity markets for power are narrowly based on
short-term prices for power. The new economics recognizes that the important
market for the public good is broad and long term. This difference between
narrow and short-term markets versus broad and long-term markets is not
easily managed by making adjustments to how electricity is sold. It is not
something easily woven into a numbers of Power pool. The new compre-
hensive market reflects the diversity of markets that constitute an agile power
system.
With globalization and increasing scale of corporate structures, the con-
ditions for and effect of competition needs reassessment. Today more multi-
national companies have significant shares of the global and local markets and
they shape demand rather than respond to it. Although large parts of the
economy are strongly competitive, many trends are establishing the consoli-
dation of firms, interlocking ownership, and corporateegovernment linkages
contrast with innovativeness and price competition characteristic of small
business markets.