Boulder, CO Residents Get Solar Discounts

New York’s ABC affiliate ran a story on their newscast last night, originally reported in Boulder two weeks ago, about a pilot program run by regional utlity Xcel Energy wherein Boulder residents get rebates from the energy company and top-line Federal tax credits for installing solar electricity systems.  Home solar systems have a street price of $40,000, but Boulder residents who take part in the Xcel program would save $25,000 off of that outlay.  The remaining $15,000 in out-of pocket costs would then presumably be made up in any additional value homeowners would get once they sold their houses, and, over the long term in excess energy that gets credited back into the regional electric grid.

The Boulder Program offers a guidepost for utilities that may be able to use solar programs to improve their grid, and startweaning the American consumer off of fossil-fred electricity.  While $15,000 per house  is still a large outlay, it is about average for most home renovation projects, and has the same net benefit of improved home value, with the added value of rolling back the meter on long, sunny days.

The State of New York offers an incentive program for solar wattage generated back into the grid, rather than for the initial installation, and the incentive is paid not to the homeowner, but to the installer, with the “understanding” that the installer use the incentive payment as a portion of the total cost.  In addition, the State offers a low-interest loan program for homeowners to install green energy systems.   Looking side by side, both programs look indirect, and until demand is high enough to reduce the costs, or an inexpensive option for solar or wind energy is discovered, it’s doubtful that these programs will totally encourage widespread installation of home solar options.

Pete Seeger has a caulk gun, not a hammer

89 year-old folksinger/voice of three generations Pete Seeger has partnered up with author/activist Van Jones to spread the message of caulk to the public.  Jones, both in his book The Green Collar Economy and through his not for profit Green For All, advocates for a new economy of green jobs in underprivileged areas.  One of the ways Jones suggests revitalizing both our economy and environment is through retrofitting houses with new insulation and sealing-  hence the caulk gun.  Jones postulates that 20-30 percent of a homes energy is lost through heat escaping leaky doors and windows.  In taking on these and other home renovation projects, local contrsuction companies can create thousands of green-collar jobs, putting local residents to work and imrpoving the quality of life in their communities.

H/T: Treehugger

The Digestible Friedman

Tom Friedman’s interview with the Huffington Post does an excellent job distilling the arguments for massive investment in green tech.  This interview, taken together Van Jones’s excellent The Green Collar Economy lay out the immediate need for what Friedman terms “overwhelming force” in moving our energy economy away from fossil fuels.  Particularly trenchant is Friedman’s first response:

With oil or coal, no one ever said there had to be a payoff you had to pay it back in five years, but with something green, “What’s the payback? What’s the payback on that Prius?”

Well. What’s the payback on your Hummer?

The argument against massive investment in green-tech is often an elaborate version of “it’s way too far off, and our infrastructure isn’t ready for it.”   However, when JFK said we were going to the moon, our space program was in a similar state.  But the scientific community rallied and got it done.  Technologies like fuel cells and electric vehicles have been paid lip service in States of the Union addresses for decades now, but if we’re serious about energy independence, we need to make it reality now.

Google gets into the Carbon Calculator Game

Hattip to Cody of the M Booth FWD team for this one.

Google has launched a Halloween-themed five-step energy saver calculator that compares spots of energy waste to ghosts, vampires, demons, monsters and zombies.  Obviously, with only five areas of savings, it’s nowhere near comprehensive.  It does, however, illustrate how small steps can lead to big change, and will hopefully lead people to look into other ways to cut both their energy costs and carbon emissions.

Thinking about Footprint, in extremis

The New York Times has run a series of articles over the past few days about smaller things;  the real eyecatcher is yesterday’s article about tiny houses.  Specifically, the article focuses on a small movement of people who are building or purchasing prefab houses that run between 50 and 1,000 square feet.  While most families would find this impractical, it does raise the question of “do you really need all of this space?”  When counterbalanced with the McMansion Movement, it’s an interesting exercise in evaluating just how much of a footprint you need to cast.

If nothing else, the $8 energy bill of one of the folks quoted is pretty compelling.

New York State Tax Credit for GreenRoofs

Courtesy of Green Brooklyn comes the news that the New York State Assembly has passed a $4.50 per square foot property tax credit for installing a greenroof.

What’s a greenroof?  It’s exactly what it sounds like- an installation of vegetation on a building roof.  Greenroofs help significantly cool buildings, in addition to soaking up CO2.  In a city that’s made up largely of pavement and roads like NYC, that can be a huge environmental boost.  A study conducted by Environment Canada found a 26% reduction in summer cooling needs and a 26% reduction in winter heat losses when a green roof is used.