Over the next five to seven years, energy usage in Cambridge buildings could decrease by 10 to 14 percent if a new $70 million energy efficiency program being launched today by the city succeeds.

Here’s how the Boston Globe describes it today:

_ University, commercial, and even residential buildings will receive energy audits over the next five years to pinpoint energy inefficiencies. Property owners will then be offered low- or zero-interest loans to undertake remediation efforts ranging from replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents to installing insulated roofs and more efficient heating and cooling systems._

The money would come from a fund raised from private sources by an investment bank. A nonprofit group, Cambridge Energy Alliance, will administer the program.

Participation will be voluntary, but proponents will run a campaign to build support and hopefully coax people into signing up.

University and large commercial buildings will likely be targeted first, rather than residential homes, because the account for 69 percent of the city’s energy usage.

This is a different approach to going green than the one being taken by Boston, which is proposing to require that commercial builders adhere to energy efficiency standards. If both cities’s initiatives end up working out, Boston-Cambridge could lead the nation as a green building city.