« How this disastrous debt bill will affect energy programs in the U.S. Government. | Main | Arctic ice continues to disappear at an increasing rate. »

It looks like there might be hope for some bi-partisan legislation coming out of Congress after all...at least in support of the solar industry here in America. The folks over at The Mother Nature Network have the skinny:

HR 2599 is the PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2011, a House bill co-sponsored by 14 Republicans and 11 Democrats that would restore Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) funding programs, which were kiboshed last year by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Still not clear? Okay. So PACE was a brilliant bit of funding wizardry pioneered out in sunny California. The ever-informative Todd Woody of Forbes has a tidy little summary for you:

The program, pioneered by the city of Berkeley, Calif., allows municipalities to float bonds to finance the installation of home solar arrays and other energy efficiency projects. Homeowners avoid the five-figure upfront cost of going solar and pay back the money through an annual surcharge on their property tax bill, typically over 20 years. If an owner sells the home, the surcharge rolls over to the buyer.

The initial reaction?

Folks were wild about PACE, and no wonder. If I'm Joe or Jane Homeowner, here's my value proposition: I get solar panels, maybe a solar hot water heater or heat exchanger or high-efficiency furnace or, why not, maybe even a geothermal heat pump -- there are limitless possibilities -- and instead of having to take out a bank loan or second mortgage or come up with twenty grand in capital in the worst economy since the Dust Bowl, I simply pay a bit extra on my property bill. It's like rent-to-own without the usury. Simple. Effective. Sign me up, right?

It all started in Berkeley, California, and spread to 24 other states within months. There was one problem, though:

A PACE bond was a sort of lein against the house, and Freddie and Fannie had become pathologically terrified of leins, even ones backed by other arms of various governments. They said nay, California's PACE program and all the rest withered on the vine, and the whole new-economy notion vanished into the churn of recrimination and half-truth about whose fault it was that the old economy was flatlining.

The economics are undeniable:

If 1% of U.S. homeowners participated in the program and each installed a $20,000 project, more than 226,000 jobs would be created along with more than $40 billion in economic activity and more than $4 billion in tax revenue.

The remarkable thing is that this is a Republican-led effort! Hooray! Says very conservative Representative from California, Dan Lundgren:

"If you're looking for a bipartisan, bicoastal, transcontinental effort to deal with the challenges of energy, the challenges of the economy and the need to create jobs, this is a win-win-win," said Lungren, a conservative Republican. "Frankly it's hard to figure out why someone would be opposed to this."

Indeed...why would anyone be opposed?

You can help nudge this bill to fruition by tracking its developments here, at OpenCongress.org, where you can send a letter to your representative asking him or her to co-sign this piece of legislation.

You can also follow PACE as it progresses through Congress by checking out this widget!

Other resources are the Run on Sun blog, which lists all the co-sponsors so far.

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.