ProjectDX acquired by Renewable Funding

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Renewable Funding, which finances clean energy projects, has purchased ProjectDX of Portland, a technology company that automates processes for governments seeking to increase participation in local sustainability programs. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. All ProjectDX staff, business and technology will be absorbed by Oakland-based Renewable Funding.

ProjectDX is an online property of Transformative Sustainable Solutions Inc., an Oregon corporation founded in 2007 by Portland-based professional and civil engineering firm David Evans Enterprises Inc.

Renewable Funding will use ProjectDX's online services for education, awareness, and community-building in conjunction with its financing program. ProjectDX also brings with it an extensive GIS database and analytical systems help property owners make cost-effective choices about energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy improvements.

Project DX, which has 10 employees, is already working with a number of communities across the country, including Portland, Seattle, Sonoma County, Calif., and Baltimore.

Jeff Rouser, ProjectDX's program director says the core team will remain and — and expand — in Portland. "We're now the technology arm of Renewable Funding," Rouser said. "We're hiring new developers because we're now going to be working with dozens of new customers.

Renewable Funding, led by Cisco DeVries, grew out of a popular public funding program for renewable energy that launched in Berkeley, Calif. The Berkeley FIRST program set up a bond-financed Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) district, allowing residents to borrow from the district to finance solar installations and pay that loan back on their property tax bill over 20 years. The concept has taken off across the country and expanded to energy efficiency and water conservation. So far 16 states and hundreds of cities — including, announced this week, San Francisco — are starting their own programs.

The technology created by ProjectDX allows property owners to integrate renewable energy project planning with a marketplace of qualified vendors, online financing applications, and back-office support for program administrators. Renewable Funding and ProjectDX partnered on San Francisco’s Sustainable Financing energy efficiency and water conservation program, which is scheduled to launch in early 2010 and will be financed and administered through Renewable Funding.