The Texas LoanSTAR program
The Texas LoanSTAR (Loans to Save Taxes and Resources) program was initially funded at $98.6 million from petroleum violation escrow (PVE) funds and was established as a revolving loan fund for building retrofits. The program was approved by the US Department of Energy in 1988 as a statewide demonstration project, and the first loans were made in late 1989. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the accomplishments of LoanSTAR over the past nine years and to point out problem areas in administering this large state program. Among the accomplishments to date: 1. Program savings have topped $50 million. 2. LoanSTAR has loaned more than $105 million, which means it has revolved once. 3. Metering and monitoring of savings has shown to be a clear benefit to the state. 4. Building continuous commissioning has been developed by the Energy Systems Laboratory engineers, and program savings from building commissioning exceed $10 million through August of 1997. 5. Measurement techniques developed in LoanSTAR have been incorporated into the DOE national protocols document (currently the N.E.M.V.P.). In the last legislative session, the Texas legislature passed a bill which established the LoanSTAR program at a minimum level of $95 million, of which 85% or more should be dedicated to state agency loans. LoanSTAR is, therefore, assured of continued funding and is less susceptible to the former politics in releasing the PVE funds for loans. Previously the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House had to give concurrence to the PVE money in order to transfer it to LoanSTAR. The current program status will be discussed and updated in the paper.
- Research Organization:
- Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20000226
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 33rd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Colorado Springs, CO (US), 08/02/1998--08/06/1998; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows 3.x; Windows 95/NT; Macintosh; UNIX. All systems need 2X CD-ROM drive., PBD: 1998; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 33. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, by Angheie, S. [ed.], [2800] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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