San Francisco Approves Solar Energy Incentive Program

June 12, 2008

After close to half a year of negotiations, the San Francisco board of supervisors has finally approved the Solar Energy Incentive Program, which will help individuals and businesses alike cut their carbon footprint.

The program has received approval from the board for 10 years, with an annual budget of $3 million. The money will be used to provide rebates to individuals and businesses that install solar panels and help reduce their carbon footprint.

The program still awaits the approval from San Francisco Mayor Newsom who has been pushing for the project throughout the negotiations. The Mayor has expressed that the program should be up and running with rebates being distributed by the start of July. Various companies that perform the installations of solar panels have been heavy supporters of the program, and have testified to the board through the negotiation period.

The program will grant rebates of $3000 or $6000 to individuals who install solar panels on their rooftops, and of $10,000 for businesses. The hope is that this will make solar installations cheap enough to gain more mainstream use as people endeavor to further reduce their carbon footprint.

The goals for the program are to have panels on 15,000 rooftops over the next 10 years, generating 55 megawatts of power. Currently, only about 700 rooftops in the city have solar panel installations, generating roughly 5 megawatts.

This is yet another example of how San Francisco, led by Mayor Newsom, who is a big supporter of electric cars in the city, is staying as a leader in the US in terms of their carbon footprint, while the federal government continues to drag their feet, as seen in the Senate earlier this week.

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