Someting VERY exciting and beneficial for communities is happening in Berkeley, and I think they're exactly right on target!

In many cases, with all the open land this is available for use in the Caiformia Central Valley programs like this MUST be implemented, not just for the benefit of the community, but also for REVENUE generation.

It is almost irresponsible not to ... cleaner, cheaper power is now even fahionable!

Almost every city can easily find public space to mount panels to power the demands of City Hall, the PD, all the current demand for public use, AND even supplement or power street lights.

Consider:

1. Develop a plan like Berkeley allowing residents to get a loan to pay for the up front cost to install the solar system, and add the balance to the city portion of the property tax bill, which always remains with the property (not the owner) until paid.

Charge below market rate financing on the loans, but still allow the city to generate revenue by negeotiating long-term reduced rates with larger lending institutions, making a margin on the difference in rates.

2. Consider a plan to supplement or replace City electrical distribution system packages from local municipalities to solar (this is strictly a payback calculation based on utility rates projected going forward).

These systems can literally be plugged in wherever you have an electric meter, so they are easy to put wherever they make sense. Put them where the demand is, put them where there is room, or put them where they are not an eye sore, it all makes sense.

3. Consider a plan to power City street lights with solar power!

The REAL MEAT of this issue is that people are underestimating the price of energy going forward!

If you compare energy prices from 25 years ago to today, they have gone up 10X or 1000% (I still remember my parents spending 25 to 30 cents per gallon, so that makes sense).

If you project going forward, that makes gas $300/gallon 25 years from now!!! After all, that is historically how much it appreciated the prior 25 years.

Of course new technology will eventually replace oil, so it literally already is a dead dinosaur anyways (pun intended).

People are looking forward, and I suspect in a worst case pondering how they are going to deal with $5/gallon gas, and a home heating/cooling bill that may double.

That is tough enough to consider, but the reality is that the tough part will come when it then continues to triple, then quadruple, all the way up to a ten-fold factor (ouch)!!!

A solar system can be installed to power a home, and if the home is energy efficient (insulation, etc.) it can usually save enough money to pay off the cost in less than 15 years, at CURRENT utility bill rate levels.

Under the proposed system, the homeowner would just write a check to the City instead of the utility company, and their bill would NEVER go up in price, as opposed to a utility bill which guaranteed will.

Think about taking today's gas price, and knowing that for the next 20 years you will never have to pay any more than that for gas!

This is a valid comparison, because it is oil many times that is used to generate electricity.

A program like this would be beautiful. If congressman McNerney is really a solar guy, and supporter of smart business, he should be helping California communities put programs like this in place.

Here's a link to Berkeley's resolution which is up for vote November 6th, 2007:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_7305889

The California Central Valley is one of the best places to enact such a program, because we have great opportunities to generate solar power, we travel and use a lot of power to commute and combat the environment, and financially we are less able to come up the money to install a solar system because we are younger, and statistically have less income & savings to make the initial purchase.

This is a call to action for all community leaders who are really intent on solving the real world problems of their community. Help Californians help themselves, this is exactly how you build community, how you get yourself elected, and more importantly how you help build a better world for tomorrow.

I would like to thank my Dad for initially mentioning the Berkeley proposal to me.

Regards, Jeff Bond

Inspect.Net, Inc.