Yesterday's Chronicle carried a story on Berkeley's proposed new solar model which would pay for the upfront costs of installing a solar PV system on homes and letting the homeowner pay the City back through an assessment on property tax bills over twenty years. According to the article, the cost of this assessment would be more than offset by energy savings, meaning that the homeowner could install solar at no cost (especially no upfront cost!).
This clever approach is a variation on the CCA (Community Choice Aggregation) model for increasing renewable, decentralized energy. It would still require a municipality to handle the administrative duties of the program but wouldn't require as much additional bureaucracy or costs for upfront feasibility studies. Plus it could happen a LOT quicker than CCA, which is critical. The program would still rely on bond money, which would mean the financing costs would be as cheap as possible.
I'm still in favor of pursuing a CCA model too, but Berkeley's approach (and I have heard San Jose is doing something similar) could really ramp up the installation of residential and commercial solar and/or small wind in the shortest amount of time, thereby reducing GHG emissions while a CCA group is still being pursued.
More information can be obtained about Berkeley's great sustainability programs and initiatives here:
Sustainable Berkeley
No comments:
Post a Comment