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November 2009
Something is (About to be) Rotten in the State of Denmark
With the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen only days away, observers around the world are talking less about seeing a firm emissions control treaty, with targets, come out of the meeting than a political agreement to aim for hefty reductions in the future.
This is, to say the least, disappointing. An international agreement on GHG emission reductions would, at long last, force governments to put a price on carbon, which would lead to more robust investment in clean energy solutions. These could include both utility-scale and distributed solar, as well as passive solar and energy efficiency measures. But to kick the problem down the road for another year or more would be to waste a rare opportunity, in which no fewer than 192 countries—more than 60 of which will be represented by their leaders—could have made tangible progress on international climate policy. Some twelve years after launching the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s leaders might have given us more.
Read the rest of the article here
New York State Gathers PACE
That innovative financing plan for residential solar that started in Berkeley, CA, is spreading rapidly.
The Californian idea, Berkeley FIRST, is barely a year old, and yet it's now spread to cities in twelve states. It's the idea in which city government funds the solar array on your roof, and you pay the city back through your property taxes over an extended period, perhaps 20 years.
Since Berkeley went live a year ago with the scheme (and sold out its first round of financing in 9 minutes!), it has spread to cities in twelve other states; good news travels fast!
The latest state to adopt this kind of PACE (property assessed clean energy) financing is New York. Our friends at Vote Solar had been trying hard to get Albany lawmakers to change state law to allow for special tax financing districts, with solar power defined as a benefit. This would be needed to enable PACE programs to be enacted. It would also be needed before the end of New York state's legislative session, if the state were to take advantage of up to $70 million in federal ARRA funding.
We helped Vote Solar with an Action Alert to New York state members, and the lawmakers in the state house helped New Yorkers by passing appropriate enabling language.
That's another one for the good guys. Now communities in the Empire State can set up PACE programs to accelerate solar deployment there.
Is your state getting on board?
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