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Financing energy efficiency
能源效率融资
Money for nothing
钱不是万能的
Green loans are proving less popular among homeowners than expected
事实证明绿色贷款在房主中并不如预期受欢迎
RETROFITTING houses to use less energy should be a no-brainer for homeowners. Over time, money spent on ways to reduce heat loss from draughty houses should produce a handsome return in lower fuel bills. In practice, many are cautious. Some improvements, such as solid-wall insulation and solar panels, can take over 25 years to cover their initial cost. Few owners are willing to wait that long: by then many are likely to have sold up and moved on.
对于大多数房主来说为了节能而翻新房屋是一件再简单不过的事了。房主把钱花在运用某些方法上使透风的房子能够减少热损失，随着时间的推移，这些钱应该会因为低额的燃料费而产生丰厚的回报。但是事实上，大多数屋主还是很谨慎的。像换上绝缘墙、太阳能电池板这样的翻新措施往往要花上超过25年的时间才能回本。大多数房主都不愿意这么做，因为到那时很多人可能已经把房子卖掉了或者已经搬走了。
Several governments have started finance schemes designed to address this problem. Since 2008 PACE programmes have offered American homeowners loans to finance improvements, repaid through higher local taxes on the property, whoever it belongs to. In Britain, the Green Deal offers loans over a 25-year period, with repayments added to energy bills. Countries including France and Canada have similar initiatives.
一些政府已经为解决此问题而开始了融资计划。2008年以来，“清洁能源财产评估”计划已经为很多美国房主提供了低息贷款，以资助他们进行房屋设施的翻新改善。这种贷款通过对该房屋征收更高的地方税而得以偿还。在英国，“绿色协议”会提供超过25年期的贷款，该贷款通过追加能源账单而得以偿还。包括法国、加拿大在内的国家也采取了类似的举措。
In theory, these schemes should boost investment in common energy-saving measures, such as extra insulation and new boilers, as the first owner does not have to pay all the costs upfront. But enrolment rates have disappointed, according to Sean Kidney at the Climate Bonds Initiative, a think-tank. In Britain, just 1% of those assessed for the Green Deal have signed up. In Berkeley, California, home of the first PACE scheme, the take-up rate is similarly paltry.
按理说，这些方案应该会促进在节能措施上的投资，比如在购买额外的绝缘设备和新的热水器的时候，首次购买者不必预先支付所有费用。但是根据来自气候债券倡议智囊团的肖恩·基德尼所说，这些方案的采纳率令人失望。在英国，仅有1%同意签署了“绿色协议”。在“清洁能源财产评估”计划出台的地方，也就是加利福尼亚州的伯克利，该方案的采纳率也是非常得低。
Homeowners are unimpressed chiefly because the interest rates on the loans look high. The Green Deal charges 7%; some PACE schemes a hefty 8%. As these rates are fixed for decades, they will inevitably look unattractive when short-term interest rates are low.
房主不愿意采纳这些方案的主要原因是看似颇高的贷款利率。“绿色协议”提供的贷款利率为7%，“清洁能源财产评估”计划提供的贷款利率更是达到了相对较高的8%。尽管这些利率将保持几十年不变，但是在短期利率较低的时候，就像现在，这些利率就不可避免地看上去毫无吸引力。
Many people also doubt they will save enough on their energy bills to cover the repayments. For instance, claims in Britain that installing loft insulation can cut energy bills by 20% have been dented by a government study that found it reduced gas consumption by only 1.7% on average. Others fear that green loans may reduce the value of their home. In America, firms that underwrite mortgages are hostile to PACE loans.
许多人也会怀疑自己是否能节省下足够的能源费用来支付贷款在英国，有人宣称，安装阁楼绝缘材料能砍掉20%的能源费用，但一项政府研究打击了这一断言，该研究发现，该材料平均仅能降低1.7%的天然气消耗。而其他人则担心绿色贷款会使自己的房屋贬值。在美国，抵押贷款的承销公司坚决反对“清洁能源财产评估”计划提供贷款。
Green loans have not been a flop everywhere. Around 250,000 households in Germany sign up for them each year. They do so because they need pay only 1% interest on them each year, thanks to an annual public subsidy of 1.5 billion. Whether that is an efficient use of taxpayers’ money is another question.
然而，绿色贷款也不是在哪儿都遭遇窘境。在德国，每年都有近25万户人家会签署绿色贷款协议。他们这样做的原因是每年他们只需要为此支付1%的利息，因为每年政府都会发放15亿欧元（约21亿美元）的公共财政补贴。然而这是否是有效利用纳税人的钱又成了另一个问题。
