A “WOW” Idea For Making Solar Energy Actually Affordable For Homeowners
July 28th, 2008 categories: Buying San Diego Real Estate, Investing in San Diego Real Estate, Local San Diego News You Can Use, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, Selling San Diego Real Estate
I was reading the editorial section of the Sunday newspaper that I do with religious regularity and someone wrote in about an idea that makes so much sense.
Some consumers out there just have so much to share when they express their ideas and it can really make quite a difference, especially if the idea makes good financial sense.
The idea actually for this editorial came from the city of Berkeley California that has proposed setting up a program that would create superb possibilities and answers two of the biggest problems for consumers to be able to afford solar energy at their own homes.
Problem #1 - High initial solar panel purchasing and installation costs
Problem #2 - Recovering the cost of providing solar when selling the home
Berkeley’s proposal overcames both problems for the homeowners in one rather remarkable solution and it involves selling bonds for revenue used for purchasing of the solar systems and also a shared part of the installation costs. The homeowner only pays a shared portion of the costs for installation. The city would recover its investment and then recovers its costs with an assessment over 20 years on the property tax bills. It would end up costing the city nothing as the annualized cost of its share of the installation costs is more than offset with energy output savings.
As you can see, both problems are solved for the consumer in one “WOW” solution-and then only a shared cost for the installation and also saving more on energy costs the first year than the installation costs. So even during year one, the consumer would enjoy the energy savings while offsetting the increased property tax of paying back their share of the bond and interest costs paid by the city.
Problem two is solved as well and the solar addition to the home may actually become an asset of the property in making it more of a stand out for desirability with decidedly reduced energy costs.
I know that if San Diego were to ever set this up, I would want to be first in line to have solar . Can you even begin to imagine what it would like across the entire country if every city could do this? Talk about going green, this would be a giant leap. My belief is that if Berkeley can do this , then we should all be encouraging our own cities to consider this option. I will update this post when the city of of Berkeley ratifies this proposal expected to voted on in September of this year.
The consumer who posted this editorial and made others aware of the wonderful idea is truly an asset. With all the talk of going green and all the expense of it, this sounds like a workable plan and harkens back to the idea ” If there is a will, then there is away”.
We installed a 24 panel photovoltaic system… with battery backup.. two years ago, and now generate almost all the electricity we need!
The usual question? “What’s the payout”
My estimate… 8-10 years.
But the real answer is “It doesn’t matter!”
Why?
Because the savings in electricity would pay the loan down.
Let’s say you borrowed the money to install the system. You’d probably save enough in electricity to pay all the interest.. and to also pay the loan down.
So… if you think you’ll be in your home for at least 8 years… just do it.
You’ll be glad you did.. and so will the environment.
Here’s what our roof looks like - we traded off aesthetics for efficiency, and installed the panels so they’d be less obtrusive from the street.
http://serkes.blogspot.com/search?q=independence+day
Ira Serkes
Ira, I plan on selling this home in about 2 years but when I get a new one, I will be making that determination that it most likely be worthwhile even if I have to pay 100% upfront to install it. I did like the Berkley idea and can see how it could benefit so many. Thank You for commenting.