Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds Added to CREBs
Thursday, October 30, 2008
As an additional incentives in the energy tax portion of the Federal Stabilization Bill, Congress created Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds, a financing program similar to Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs). This new program authorizes $800 million in Energy Conservation Bonds to be used by state and local governments for, among other uses, energy improvement in public buildings and green community projects such as energy efficiency improvements in residential buildings. It also authorizes use of the bonds for rural renewable energy development, R&D and public education. The program resembles the CREB program for renewables–that is bondholders receive a federal tax credit and the issuer gets interest-free financing. The difference is that the allocations are automatic and proportionate based on population, i.e., there is no application process.

























