December 12, 2007

Cashing in on the Sun in San Francisco

According to CNN.com San Francisco may become the most affordable place to go solar in the US. San Francisco has developed an enterprising plan to help it’s residents and businesses use the sun’s limitless power to supply their energy needs.

It was announced Tuesday, Dec 10,2007 that they plan to offer additional rebates, along with state and federal, as well loans for the remaining cost. They would be available to both residents and businesses located in the San Francisco.

The idea behind only chosing solar for these perks may have something to do with what Mayor Newsom said. “The reality is the climate in the Bay Area, the climate in San Francisco specifically, is ideally situated for solar.” Unfortunately other alternative energy sources will not be recieving these additional benefits.

With this plan the up front cost of solar electric systems could be greatly reduced and then paid for over 20 years. Which could be under or around $100 a month, depending on interest charged, for the estimated cost left of $11,000 – $12,000 after all rebates are taken. Though rebates would be applied for by the homeowner, they are expected to be paid to the contractor who would then take it off the price of the system. These rebate can range from $3,000 to $5,000 for residential use and up to $10,000 for business. With the available $7,000 state rebate and additional $2,000 tax credit already available to residents of California that makes the estimated cost of a 3-kilowatt roof solar electric system of $24,000, a lot more manageable, $12,000 or less.

A thing to worry about is that as they are advertising this plan it still needs to be approved by the voters for the loan portion of the plan. With the rebate portion just needing the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

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Rain and Bugs

Ugggg! Will it ever stop raining? I am thankful that we aren’t experiencing the ice like our neighbors to the north… Today I went outside to check on our stuff, our last load of stuff is sitting out on a trailer, it’s covered with builders plastic, it’s basically super heavy plastic, that’s the only thing protecting our belongings. It was still raining a little when I went outside, I noticed that water had pooled in places on the plastic, gallons of cold water threatened to soak everything underneath it. I was able to pull the plastic taught and let the water drain out onto the ground. Ohhhh, it was cold as it flowed over my arms, refreshing!!! It appears so far that everything is OK under the plastic, we will find out when we unload it.

Now on to a more pleasant subject, I have had lots of fun driving my new/old bug! I drove it over to my Dad’s house to show it off, he lives about 30 minutes away, that gave me a chance to try out driving in it, one thing I learned, I’m glad I’m not driving it to west Texas, I will be towing it, just driving to my Dad’s house and back was fun but rough, I don’t think I’d like being rattled for 12 hours. It does need some work, the dash has gaping holes, in case you aren’t familiar with old bugs, the engine is in the rear, the front has the gas tank, wires, the spare tire and the rest is open space, it’s the trunk. There used to be a radio and speakers in the dash, these are missing, and the glove box is missing too, you can look right through from the front seat into the “trunk” area, that means that all the cold air comes right in through all the holes in the dash to the inside of the cab. My husband did have pity on me though, he took a can of spray foam and plastic bags and filled up all the holes in the dash, at least no more air leaks in. Once we get settled in at our new home, he will work on a better solution. When I got to my Dad’s house, he came out and looked it over, just like most dad’s, he wanted to pop the hood, so I showed him the trunk, the first thing he noticed was all the foam, not standard issue on most bugs, I explained that it was temporary. Next I showed him the motor, I don’t think he is very familiar with bug engines, he is a real do it yourself kind of man though, and has changed out his fair share of motors on many other vehicles, so he was able to appreciate the simplicity and durability of the elegant engine that was staring …

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Clean Energy Alternative

If you can’t afford the up front cost of going off the grid how about turning to clean energy resources for your energy needs now.

The up front cost of going self-sufficient may be to much and with most tax and rebate incentives expiring, the help that was there is disappearing fast, using mass produced alternative energy may be the way to go for you.

You can go to the US Dept of Energy to find the alternative energy sources available to you. Being self-sufficient will be great when it can be achieved by all of us who want it, but with the roadblocks we face to do that at least we can feel better about the energy we consume while trying to attain this goal.

Another benefit could also be as more demand for these types of energy sources become more in demand then price should fall. Hence the $1 per watt solar panels that are due to be in production soon. So you can look at the use of these energies as an investment for bringing down the cost for you later. Since there can be no quick and easy method to changing your lifestyle or the world we live in we hope that by more and more of us, together or separately, changing the effect on and in our environments will be felt and seen.

Changing ourselves is truly the only sure way of making the world a better place for us and our children. Good luck and borrowing from the Iroquois the belief “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” We do admit that we found this quote on one of our favorite brands of non-toxic household supplies Seventh Generation.

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