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Berkeley, Calif., suggests innovative solar scheme

Posted at 4:30 PM on 26 Oct 2007

The Berkeley, Calif., city council will soon vote on an innovative scheme to front the cost of solar panels to homeowners, who would pay the city back over 20 years as a property tax add-on. The amount to be paid back would be roughly what homeowners would save on electric bills by being sun-powered. "This plan could be our most important contribution to fighting global warming," says Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. "We've already seen interest from all over the U.S. People really think this plan can go." What will those crazy hippies think of next?

sources: San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Californian, Contra Costa Times
see also, in Grist: Berkeley, Calif., goes all crazy with the green ideas

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Comments: (2 comments)

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Cool

A very good plan! the increase in property tax payments would be offset by energy savings. No economic suffering.

Another really great energy saving plan for cities like Berkley would be to use cool ocean water to substitute for normal air conditioning.

The city water supply system equipped with feedback loops that dump heat into the cold ocean. Buildings cooled with circulated water at a tiny fraction of the energy use of normal air conditioning.

36% of GHG comes from heating/cooling buildings. With the much lower energy demand of merely circulating water, rather than operating very inefficient heat pumps dumping unwanted heat into the hot summer air, solar PV could provide the electricity.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 7:08 AM on 30 Oct 2007

Solar for wealthy only.

A very large percentage of Berkely residents are renters. I would suspect a higher percentage than the California average of 40% renters. Why would a landlord agree to an additional property tax cost in order to save his/her tenants money? They won't.

As somebody who has first hand experience in rental property management it is my strong opinion that some big government regulation is going to be required to get rental property owners to install energy upgrades. Your average rental property has a 15 year-old water heater, a 30 year old HVAC system and an ancient refrigerator. Fixing those first would do far more than installing solar panels.

Require proof of energy upgrades before allowing new account hookups by energy companies. A fix it or leave it empty law would do far more to reduce energy consumption than a solar subsidy for well-off property owners.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 6:27 PM on 30 Oct 2007

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