WHEEL–Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans

The Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans (WHEEL), an unsecured residential energy efficiency loan program, has been at the forefront of the effort to combat climate change. In the US, WHEEL successfully completed its first securitization in June 2015: $12.58 million in green bonds backed by almost $16 million in energy efficiency loans. This initial WHEEL program benefitted 2,079 homes and has saved an estimated 3,467 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions,

WHEEL’s potential to scale up investment in energy efficiency and reduce the impacts of climate change is huge. In its newest report, “Findings from the WHEEL Feasibility Securitization Study: India, China, Brazil, UK, and the EU,” Energy Programs Consortium is the first to study how the WHEEL model can be applied globally, discussing options for implementing residential energy efficiency loan and secondary market programs in the aforementioned countries. The report addresses the key questions for each of the key countries studied, including the important components each country has in place and the adaptations that would need to be made that would make a WHEEL-type project successful.