Palm Desert Pays People to Use Solar Power
Cities across the nation are debating about ways to encourage residents and businesses to switch over to renewable energy resources like solar power. The cities that are struggling to come up with a good plan might want to look to Palm Desert for a solution. Through California Assembly Bill 811 (AB811) this area is offering property owners the chance to install money-saving solar power devices at almost no initial cost using low-interest, long-term loans. The program launched one year ago and has been successful in funding solar energy for both residences and businesses.
There are a few features built into the Palm Desert plan that make it a viable plan for other cities to consider. The main feature is that the loan that is made for the purpose of installing the solar power is attached to the property rather than to the property owner. This definitely encourages people to go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity to add solar panels to their homes or businesses. Many people might hesitate to make such an investment if they knew that they would have to keep re-paying the loan even after moving away from the property. After all, the loan is a long-term loan and a lot of people don't plan on living in the same place forever. They may not want to invest in adding solar power to a place that they aren't going to stay in for as long as the loan lasts. Since the loan is attached to the property, it will actually be picked up by the new property owner in the event that the property is sold. This has encouraged Palm Desert residents to make the investment since it's a win-win situation for them. They save money with lower energy bills and yet aren't committed to a long-term loan if they do want to move.
It also helps that the terms of the loan and the process of repayment are fair and simple. The loan is a highly-affordable, low-cost, long-term loan. The loan is offered at a fixed rate of approximately 7% with a length of 20 years. And Palm Desert residents don't have to worry that this is going to add another monthly bill to their stack of payments because instead the loan is simply repaid biannually at the same time that the person's property taxes are due. Instead of adding a monthly bill, the resident actually decreases monthly spending because of the energy-savings of using solar power. This has proven to be a great success in Palm Desert and could easily serve as a model for other cities that want to encourage development of renewable resources by property owners.
Source: http://www.ab811.org/
Publish Date: 2009-09-08 12:26:25
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