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GREEN HOME SHOW #29: Solar Powered City and Home Energy Savings: Part 1 City invests in solar
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The following content is from THE GREAT GREEN HOME SHOW #29.
Copyright Disclaimer:
The content of the GGHS is solely the responsibility of the ECF and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of WILM, its sponsors or Clear Channel Radio. Any rebroadcast, reproduction or use of the Great Green Home Show or its contents without written permission from the Green Fox, Paul Hughes, Doug Hunt, Aunt Jean, Brenna Wallace, Brooke Chase, the Watson Brothers, The Snap and the Sin City Band is strictly prohibited.
Overall Segment #1 – 9:00
Music & Introduction (Doug) – 3:30
Introduction – Good Morning!!! Happy Holidays and welcome to another edition of The Great Green Home Show. We want to thank everyone who’s tuned in today, as well as those of you who’re listening online at wilm.com. We hope you’re warm and happy and ready to find out what you can do to reduce your carbon Bigfoot, save some electricity, but most importantly, save yourself some money. Ya know… conservin’ the “green”.
As always, our goal is to entertain and deliver useful energy saving tips as we also try to give you the latest information available regarding all things “green”,
I’m Doug Hunt and next to me is my co-host, Paul Hughes. Good morning Paul, how was your week? What’s new...I know you have something to say about saving energy, or what happened in the Green News this week
Paul: who me....well I did think of a few things to say and be thankful for when I thought about things this week....
..... I am really thankful for our listeners, for without them we would only be talking to ourselves and though that amuses us immensely most of the time it's nice to know there are people out there who are willing to listen to us every week and enjoy the hopefully helpful information and the green themes that we research diligently each week. We really appreciate this growing listening body and hope that we can be helpful, inspirational, and occasionally we can make you laugh,.... which of course is what life is all about, enjoying the ride.
And of course all of you all have made it possible for us to get Clear Channel to help us put on “The Great Green Expo”, here in Wilmington...
So Doug since we are going to do this every week... talk a little bit about the Expo... the timing and location
Doug: “The Great Green Expo” on March 29 at the Chase Riverfront. We want everyone to put this one on their calendars. We'll probably be talking about it for at least another four months, so I won’t drag it out too much but… we have some celebrity guests already lined up. We have great, local and regional musicians scheduled to perform. There’ll be speakers from a bunch of different environmental fronts, educational organizations, from fantastic radio shows with great hosts and killer comedy skits to green counsel people…
And of course, a lot of green: entrepreneurs and businesses – from clothing made from bamboo and recycled plastic bottles to green builders to manufacturers of organic foods. There’ll be green education tables that will explain what you want to know about renewable energy and fair trade practices… too many things to do!
So things are moving along with the expo and obviously, as things start to develop we’ll bring you more information on this exciting and incredibly important new event… like who'll be there, new products that’ll be showcased, and what surprises for students will be there,... that's right we can’t tell what the surprises are but I promise you, there will be some. So let’s move on and thank our sponsors. Paul?
Paul: By the way, all of these great green supporters who have signed on from the beginning have shown great foresight by being early supporters of this green movement we have going here, and are all going to be at the show. So you can meet them and talk to them about how to save energy in your home, Energy Services Group......CMI solar Electric will install solar energy and save you money on your way to an energy independent future, and then if you need financial help Suntrust Mortgage can help you by educating you as to all the programs and rebates that are available for you, should you need financing or help with your green upgrades and installations.
Thanks to: – Those Guys and also Myecoagent.com and Option Insurance Group. Also, Mark Unruh for the great music…. and listen to Scott Birney’s program on WVUD - 91.3 FM on Fridays…
Todays Topic: 4:00 sponsored by: Suntrust Mortgage
Berkeley going solar: .... city pays up front and recoups over 20 years.
Berkeley California is set to become the first city in the nation to help thousands of its residents generate solar power without having to put money up front. This initiative attempts to surmount one of the biggest hurdles for people who want to go green, but don't have enough cash to make it happen.
The Berkeley City Council voted November 6 on a plan for the city to finance the cost of solar panels for property owners who agreed to pay it back with a 20 year tax assessment on their property. Over the next two decades the additional taxes, would be less than what the property owners would save on their electric bills. So essentially their electric savings will more than pay for their part of the cost of installing solar. What a great plan! Mayor Tom Bates said Thursday in a quote “This plan could be our most important contribution to fighting global warming. He said “we’re already seeing interest from all over the US and we really think this plan can go”.
“If this works, we would want to look at this for other cities statewide” said Ken Alex, California Deputy Attorney General. “We think it's very creative and a great way to eliminate the barriers to getting solar panels, and it's fantastic that Berkeley is going ahead with this”. Okay so listen to this... here’s how this really cool program works... I hope the City of Wilmington is listening right now... if not... we'll have to send someone to explain all this to them. So we may end up relying on you listeners to be the ones to go down there... okay...
A property owner would hire a city approved solar installer who would determine the best solar system for the property, depending on energy use and the location of the structure. Most residential solar panel system installations in the city would cost roughly $15 -20,000. The city would pay the contractor for the system and its installation minus the applicable state and federal rebates (this would really work in Delaware with the state and federal rebates not to mention the renewable energy credits) and then the city would add an assessment of the property owners tax bill to pay for the system over 20 years...
The extra tax would include administrative fees and interest, which would be lower than what the property owner could attain on his own, because the city will secure low-interest bonds and loans... and that's how it's done! The tax assessment would stay with the property even if the owner sold but of course, the owner would have to leave the solar panels if he sold the property.
I don't know if the mayors know it, but pretty soon all cities are going to have to set goals for reducing carbon emissions... you see 80% of the world’s carbon emissions occur within city boundaries and I'm talking about all of the cities on the planet… well, all of the major cities anyway. Although there’s only 1% of the land mass within their boundaries, 80% of the carbon emissions which creates global warming are produced there. It's easier for the municipalities and cities to mandate change using local ordinances than it is for the federal government to come to a consensus on a national level.
So, keep an eye on Berkeley, California and their new program. It looks really good and we can do something like it here if it works out there… in fact, maybe we should start something here that looks really good, that other people want to follow.
