Financing Energy Efficiency

The incentive advantage: covering project costs

The reality is, everyone benefits from offering incentives: utilities offer rebates because efficient systems can reduce peak demand and pressure on the grid. Federal incentives help put newer technologies to work, grow the workforce needed to build them, and make major energy projects possible for more organizations. These incentives are not loopholes. They are working exactly as intended. Not using them means leaving real money and real public benefits on the table. 

At GreenerU, we stay current on federal, state and local incentives that can reduce upfront project costs. Through exclusive partnerships with local organizations and governments, we also offer financing options that can help institutions begin saving energy immediately and realize even greater savings once financing is repaid.

A real world example: Wellesley Village Church

At Wellesley Village Church, GreenerU helped deliver a fully electric geothermal system as part of a major building modernization project. The total project cost was approximately $4.7 million, but a combination of utility and federal incentives dramatically reduced the church’s net investment:

Table 1: Wellesley Village Church’s project costs and incentive savings

Using incentives and rebates about 56% of total project costs were covered.

Learn more about WVC here.

Types of funding: state, local, and private options

Federal-led funding – IRA Clean Energy Investment Tax Credits (ITCs)

The Inflation Reduction Act expanded access to clean-energy tax credits, including investment tax credits for eligible clean electricity and energy-storage projects. Tax-exempt organizations and government entities may be able to use elective pay, also called direct pay, to receive the value of certain credits as a refundable payment from the IRS. (irs.gov)

While many of these tax credits were repealed under the Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, others, including around battery storage or ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps remain intact. GreenerU has experience working with building owners to claim the full value of these tax credits.

Best fit: Eligible storage, geothermal, and other clean-energy projects where the owner or project structure can use tax credits, elective pay, or transferability.

State or utility-led funding

Many states, municipalities, and utilities have their own locally-managed incentive programs that can translate to significant cost reductions to customers. GreenerU works to maximize these savings to the customer to ensure that you get the best possible deal for your project.

Best fit: Commercial, institutional, municipal, educational, and multifamily facilities pursuing eligible energy upgrades.

C-PACE financing

C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) allows eligible commercial, industrial, and multifamily property owners to finance energy improvements through a property betterment assessment. The repayment obligation is tied to the property, which can make PACE useful for larger or longer-payback projects.

GreenerU works with commercial C-PACE lenders who can help you upgrade your property today and capture the benefits over the lifetime of your repayment plan. 

Best fit: Eligible property owners planning energy-efficiency, renewable-energy, or resiliency improvements.

Traditional private lending

GreenerU also partners with a variety of lending institutions, from national infrastructure funds to local mission-driven lenders. These lenders can provide flexible financing terms and oftentimes below-market rates for value-aligned customers. If you are looking to leverage traditional debt to enable your decarbonization projects move forward, GreenerU can help!

Learn more about additional funding opportunities through GreenerU partnerships: https://www.greeneru.com/contract-with-us/

Contact us to talk about how we can help you take advantage of these incentives for your next decarbonization project.