Get Solar Panels Without Extra Bills

From: , Low Impact Living, More from this Affiliate Published December 8, 2008 09:25 AM

Get Solar Panels Without Dealing with Extra Bills

Going solar seems to get easier by the day — both logistically and financially. Before, homeowners had to save up to pay the huge upfront cost of buying and installing solar panels. Now, would-be solar energy users don’t need to put up startup funds — nor do they even have to deal with an extra repayment bill!

The latest company making solar power accessible is Renewable Funding, a financial company with a new solar-friendly product called CityFIRST. CityFIRST basically allows homeowners to install solar panels with no upfront cost — using a solar installer or contractor of their choice — then pay for panels over 20 years via a line item on property tax bills.

To make this plan work, the city you live in has to work with Renewable Funding to offer this service. Berkeley’s already signed up! Renewable Funding works to educate and recruit city residents who want to go solar, then via “a unique bond transaction with the City,”� will let those solar-friendly residents pay for solar panels incrementally on their property tax bills. In many cases, the utility bill savings from the solar installation will be enough to recoup most of the installment payment for the solar panels themselves.

As evidenced by Berkeley’s embrace of this new financing strategy for solar power, solar energy’s especially popular in California. The NorCal Solar Energy Association, a nonprofit, solar education group, recently released a study showing that Californians purchased more than $2.1 billion in solar electric technology between 1998-2007. The trend’s even more noticeable if you look specifically at Northern California. As The NorCal Solar Energy Association observes: “In the Bay Area, there are 11,563 solar projects - built at a cost of $746 million — producing more than 84 megawatts of electricity according to the new report that includes all installations as of December, 31, 2007.”�

Interested in solar panels? Newbies can learn about how home solar systems work here. Then read our posts about power-purchase agreements and new solar-friendly tax credits to find out if alternative energy’s a viable option for you. Or to find a solar installer near you, click here

IBM Harvard Want Your PC For Solar Study

December 8, 2008 08:54 AM

IBM, Harvard want your PC for solar power study

By Matt Daily

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Scientists at Harvard University and IBM are hoping to harness the power of a million idle computers to develop a new, cheaper form of solar power that could revolutionize the green energy world.

Researchers have launched the project using IBM's World Community Grid, which taps into volunteers' computers across the globe to run calculations on a myriad of compounds -- potentially shortening a project that could take 22 years to just two years.

Pipelines race out of the mountains; into yards

Pipelines race out of the mountains; into yards
December 1, 2008 11:34 AM ET

DENVER (AP) - Massive infrastructure projects expected to help deliver energy independence have clashed with cherished rights of land ownership.
The bulk of the new natural gas supply is in the energy-rich Rockies and Texas, but landowners including a Midwestern horse farm and a family vineyard in Yamhill, Ore., are worried about leaks into water and soil, land damaged by construction, land lost to a right of way and, in some cases, loss of livelihood.
More than 20,000 miles of new natural gas pipelines have been built and brought on line in the last 10 years.

The behemoth of the new pipelines is the $4 billion Rockies Express. Construction began two years ago about 160 miles northwest of Denver.
It's expected to reach Clarington, Ohio, by next summer.
According to the Energy Information Administration, about 200 projects have been proposed to add 10,100 more miles of pipeline between 2008 and 2010.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.