New Solar Panel Loan Will Light Up The Neighborhood

Time:

There were limits to how green Bruce Letvin was willing to go. For years, the 53-year-old anatomy professor had wanted to install solar panels on his Manhattan Beach, Calif., home. But the up-front installation costs always outweighed the benefits for the environment and his conscience. This spring, however, he managed to work out green financing with the help of solar company SunPower. After determining that his electricity bills and roof exposure were large enough to make him a good candidate for its solar panels, the company, based in San Jose, Calif., helped him find a 15-year loan for the $64,500 system. Yes, his $550 loan payment is more than the $300 or so he used to spend each month on electricity bills--so far, he has generated enough solar power that he doesn't need to take any juice from the grid--but after he pays off the loan, his power will be free. And this year, he'll get a $16,000 rebate in the form of federal and state tax incentives for solar. "I really wouldn't have been able to do this without the financing," he says. "But with [the loan], it's a no-brainer."

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Comments

[jinjinpinti]

06:16 PM on 08/19/2008

I live in the state of Washington, western region, where we have long periods of cloudiness with no sunshine at all. What I want is one of those nice high tech windmills as my house is on a bluff over Commencement Bay, Puget Sound, and we have neally a nearly, continual prevailing breeze/winds. I wonder if neighbors would complain or if our local electric company would cotton to the notion of its customers generating their own power, even if they could buy any excess.

[research]

07:43 PM on 08/19/2008

Washington state has "net metering" and customer produced energy payment capped at 2000$ per month.

[Wheathead]

10:55 PM on 08/18/2008

typical, I'll go green and and install these systems if the "government" will subsidize it. I'm not spending money out of my own pocket.

[research]

12:47 AM on 08/15/2008

go to the site I listed! it lists the state program amounts.

[DavidMG]

06:06 PM on 08/14/2008

This article would have been useful if it listed state's program with links

[lvogt]

01:01 AM on 08/14/2008

There are companies that will install solar panels on your house free for a contract to buy the electricity produced at a fixed rate for 5 to 20 years. No upfront costs and locked in energy prices. That's a good deal.

[sheila]

11:31 PM on 08/13/2008

people living in CA should start putting pressure on their cities and county to set up loan funds per the recent AB 811 legislation which allows municipalities and counties to issue low-interest loans to all home and business owners for large efficiency projects (insulation, etc.) and renewable energy generation, and to use the property tax system for repayment.

this means the loan attaches to the property, which means a guaranteed payback for the lender, and that the owner need not pay it off when s/he sells the house - the new owners will automatically be on the hook for the annual payments. and from what i understand, since its paid as property tax, the full loan payment is also tax deductible! need to confirm that...

loans tend to be roughly $20K to $30 K with $1,000 to $1,500/year, less than most people pay for power... if it were to be combined with a feed-in tariff, we could start seeing some serious installations in the next year. you need to push hard for the tariff in AB 1920 to be at least double retail, and for the caps on system sizes to be removed, if you want to enjoy a level playing field with big energy producers.

finally, a repeal on the $2,000 federal tax credit, so that we get a flat 30% like business does, is essential. HR 5984 and Sister bill S2821 are sitting in Ways & Means/Finance respectively. give your rep a push!

[research]

05:55 PM on 08/13/2008

if you live in AZ CA CN MN CO Mo NY OR TX,

Installed Solar power is FREE

http://www.power-savetv.com/incentives.html

I cannot vouch for this company, I know only what I have read on their web site.

[markusmarkus]

07:48 AM on 08/14/2008

Looks like the company is selling snake oil.

[research]

01:45 PM on 08/14/2008

No, I didn't see Snake Oil anywhere on their product list.

Just Amazing. Here is a way for people to get free solar power installed on their roof, based on government programs designed to get us off of oil, and you just casually poo poo it.