San Francsico passed last week (thanks to upcoming green design site Inhabit.com) the nation's largest solar incentive program for a US city. SF budgeted $3 million for individual homes, multi-family homes, non-profits, low-income homes and business subsidies. The city will even help figure out solar suitability of properties and buildings for free.
Combined with the nation's largest combined municipal solar installations at over 1.5 MW, San Francisco now has a terrific twosome of city solar projects and citizen incentives. The new $3 million fund is expected to develop 1.5 MW of power--this in a city known for its fog-shrouded weather.
Next, maybe the US can look to Germany's feed-in tariff regulations, where any homeowner or business generating electricity from wind, PV solar, hydroelectric gets a guaranteeed payment four times the market rate.
Because of these regulations, Freiburg, Germany, a city only one-quarter the size of San Francisco located in the equally non-tropical Black Forest, had a solar generating capacity of more than 8.6 MW at the end of 2006.
Combined with the nation's largest combined municipal solar installations at over 1.5 MW, San Francisco now has a terrific twosome of city solar projects and citizen incentives. The new $3 million fund is expected to develop 1.5 MW of power--this in a city known for its fog-shrouded weather.
Next, maybe the US can look to Germany's feed-in tariff regulations, where any homeowner or business generating electricity from wind, PV solar, hydroelectric gets a guaranteeed payment four times the market rate.
Because of these regulations, Freiburg, Germany, a city only one-quarter the size of San Francisco located in the equally non-tropical Black Forest, had a solar generating capacity of more than 8.6 MW at the end of 2006.
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