California Makes Solar Power Easy!
What better place to take advantage of the sun’s rays then sunny California? The state has been at the forefront of new and sustainable energy initiatives, with solar power being one of the most popular and widely accessible alternative energy solutions. Homebuyers and even renters are enticed by “green” amenities, so outfitting your home with solar panels can have a big payoff!
California’s Solar Programs
California has been expanding the Go Solar California campaign, which includes incentives for qualified single-family, low-income homeowners (SASH), as well as incentives for qualifying affordable housing (MASH), the New Solar Homes Partnership, providing solar rebates for new homes, and the California Solar Initiative (CSI), a solar rebate program for California consumers that are customers of the investor-owned utilities. The Go Solar California campaign developed out of former Governor Schwarzenegger’s Million Solar Roofs program in 2005. Thousands of California residents have been taking advantage of these programs to help ease the state’s energy burden while saving some money on their utility bill as well!
New government and private programs are popping up all the time. A new program, running through 2017, uses the cap-to-trade money raised by the state to provide solar panels for families that may not otherwise be able to afford them. The $2.2 billion Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes (M-CASH CA) project is managed by Alternative Energy Solar Project and is the country’s first dedicated repayment system for middle class families.
And with SolarCity’s lease-to-own and no money down programs, solar panels are more affordable and accessible than ever!
Learn more about Go Solar California
Learn more about the California Solar Initiative
Learn more about the New Solar Homes partnersip
Homes With Solar Panels Sold At Premium
Homebuyers are showing high demand for solar energy homes, and they are willing to pay a lot extra for solar-powered homes! A new study from The Appraisal Journal, a professional publication for appraisers, found that the average premium for homes with solar panels is an extra $14,329, an added 3.74% to the average sales price. Even renters will pay an additional $31/month to live in a building that includes sustainable initiatives, according to a survey by the National Multifamily Housing Counsil.
Going green is good for everyone, and solar power is an affordable and accessible way to contribute to California’s sustainable energy practices!
4 Responses
That’s a great initiative. If most states would adopt this then I think the world would be a cleaner place. With less carbon emissions and a more green environment, I’m sure the environment(read less global warming) will thank us for that.
I agree that this is a great initiative. Currently, I only know one person who has solar panels on their home. The reason that everyone else I know won’t get solar panels is because it isn’t cheap to invest in, although the payoff from investing in it is wonderful. People simply don’t have the money to be able to invest in it without special programs to help them afford it! I think that these new programs will inspire a lot more people to get solar panels.
This is really great. I’ve often wondered about how the United States would be different it our federal government had put all of the money into sustainable energy initiatives over the past 15-20 years that they instead put into foreign wars. Considering how much higher our domestic oil production is these days, it’s likely that we would have stopped needing foreign oil long ago.
This really has to be taken into account by eevry single state and also every single country should take a loot at it and see how good it would be. Sadly, governments do not really care about this type of thing, however, this is something really good. Thank you for sharing it.