Green Options » Marin

How Marin Can Dramatically Boost Renewable Energy And Save Money

The Dave Room — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:57:27 +0000

In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Executive Order S-3-05 which sets a long term greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Reaching this ambitious target will require that California embark on a comprehensive strategy to make aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades.

Nationwide, electricity generation is is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gases. It is incomprehensible how the 80% greenhouse gas reduction target could be reached without tremendous amounts of renewable energy and energy efficiency. I am not saying that greenhouse gas reductions and renewable energy are the same but they certainly are not apples and oranges. I’d say they are more like oranges and tangelos. If we want significant greenhouse gas emissions, we’re going to need to ramp up renewable energy and quick.

PG&E Moves to Subvert Community Choice Energy

The Dave Room — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:07:59 +0000

I hope PG&E is not an advertiser on Green Options, because they almost certainly would want to censor this post. I feel compelled to do the post because a lot of folks in the Bay Area are concerned about PG&E’s effort to subvert California’s Community Choice Energy law (AB 117). So is the Attorney General; see the article below!

Community Choice enables cities and/or counties to pool their purchasing power and collectively bulk purchase electricity from their selected providers. It is structured as a private-public partnership in which cities do their own procurement, opting for greater quantities of renewable energy than they could with PG&E, and PG&E continues to do the transmission, distribution, metering, billing, and customer service.

Bay Area Solar Rebates

Keith Rockmael — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:00:40 +0000

Normally, we live for the present. We’re not about events, deals, and projects that will hopefully start sometime in the future. We’re not big fans of Chevrolet announcing that in three years they plan to unveil the electric powered car the Volt. That’s great; in three years one of us may plan to get married or buy Microsoft. Maybe we should announce that now. That being said, the neighboring Bay Area counties (San Francisco, Marin and Berkeley) recently concocted plans to offer rebates of up to $5,000 for installing solar panels if homeowners use a local contractor. Coupled with state and federal incentives, that could cut in half the $21,000 cost for an average household. Because San Francisco knows that it’s not just about solar, the City will also cover up to 90 percent of the costs of making apartment buildings more energy-efficient, and will pay residents $150 to replace old appliances.

Those crazy green radicals in neighboring Berkeley will finance the cost of solar panels for homeowners who agree to pay the money back through a 20-year property tax assessment. Nearby Marin County offers a $500 rebate to homeowners who install solar systems.

For those who think that these rebate ideas only reside on the West Coast should know that Baltimore offers at least $2,000 toward closing costs for people who buy new homes close to where they work. They call the program the “Live Near Your Work” program. Pretty crazy, huh?

As for San Francisco’s program, the loan part of the program would need to be approved by voters as a ballot initiative, while the refund part would need the support of the Board of Supervisors, San Francisco’s never shy for publicity city council. If this program succeeds then we’ll give them all the Green pub that they can handle.