Living Green is Cool: DC on the verge of solar support shrinkage

Just when things couldn’t get any worse, DC Council is proposing to a move that will discourage solar purchases among businesses and residents. The District Department Of The Environment (DDOE) has scheduled a meeting to discuss these proposed changes:

- $1.50 for each of the first 300 installed watts of capacity (from previous amount of $3)

- $1.00 for each of the next 7000 installed watts of capacity (from previous amount of $2)

- $0.50 for each of the next 10,000 installed watts of capacity (from previous amount of $1)

These numbers add up to reflect a drop in rebate amount that entice DC solar purchases; thus making solar systems unaffordable. It is unfortunate that under this heavy wave of challenges to increase solar communities and boost alternative energy trends, the options for such continue to reduce. Some have noted that the funds for this program is not drawn from the city tax revenue; so it should be considered a “deprivation” of support for homeowners and businesses to go solar. It would be a tolerable debate if this reserved resources is decided for relocating to another renewable energy avenue but it is not; while the renewable energy standard for D.C is suffering, other “needs” must not cause solar programs to be substitutable.

With few encouragement on the eastern part of the country picking up pace on the benefits to alternative energy (wind, solar, geothermal), there is still a lot more that needs to be done to bring more involvement to make such market promising for average consumers. Consequently, S-RECs ( Solar Renewable Energy Credits) in D.C is losing its worth. The value of throughput for solar systems would be less than its previous sale – there goes another treasure.

Now the question is how much can be done to halt this plan? D.C residents must first understand the depth of this effect and realize that there efforts depend on the entire outcome of energy efficient benefits for the city. Fortunately, there are dedicated advocates standing against this, but need more grassroots support to fight this change. D.C residents should join to continue the fight and initiate contact with solarcoop@yahoo.com.

Tags: DC legislation, green rebates and incentives, rolar rebates, Solar Energy

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 27th, 2011 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Environment, Solar Energy, green rebates and incentives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.