Story Archives of 'Solar Power'

Municipalities all over the United Sates are trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One of the biggest impediments to integrating renewable energy sources into the nation’s homes and public buildings is the cost. Residential solar installations can cost a homeowner somewhere between $12-25,000.

Conventional cost offsets come from local, state and federal government rebates and tax breaks, but a new funding model is in its infancy in – where else? – Berkeley, California. There the city will finance the cost of solar panels for property owners to be paid back over 20 years as a voluntary line item on their tax bills. It’s called renewable funding, and it’s catching on in other cities as well.

Cisco DeVries is managing director at Renewable Funding, and developed its model program, BerkeleyFIRST. He worked in the Clinton administration, including as an assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He joins Word of Mouth with more about the innovative financing plan.

(Photo by David TREBOSC)

For decades now, solar power has stood as the great hope for those looking for alternative energy sources. Back in the early 1980s, some predicted that solar power would produce one million watts of energy annually within 10 years. Three decades later, homes and buildings that use solar energy are expensive to construct and still in the minority.

But Jon Luoma, an environmental journalist and author of several books, including Hidden Forest: Biography of an Ecosystem, says solar power is about to hit the mainstream – for real this time. As part of our "next green thing" series, we aked Jon to bring us up to date on solar's technological advances. He wrote about this topic for Yale Environment 360.

(Photo by Powerhouse Museum)