PACE yourself for Solar, New Yorkers!

Published on November 12, 2009 by Tor a.k.a. "Solar Fred".
Categories: Solar Trends.

NYers Lining Up to Sign this Solar Petition (Photo:Flickr/MartinEric)

UPDATE: PACE PASSES BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE! Thanks so much for your help in bringing the potential for no-brainer financing to the State of New York! You rock for solar, New York!

New Yorkers, if you believe in solar, and I know you do because you’re on this website, then you must, must, must take 2 funky minutes to fill out this petition to N.Y. lawmakers from the good folks at votesolar.org. Here’s why:

• PACE is a new solar financing program that can be adopted by cities. (Some know this program as “municipal solar financing” or “Berkley type” solar financing.)
• PACE stands for “Property Assessed Clean Energy.” What’s that mean exactly?
• It means that instead of paying the high up front costs of solar by getting a bank loan, cities that pass PACE laws can enable homes and businesses to finance solar through a special property tax assessment spaced over 20 years.
• Why is this f#*%ing awesome sensible and cheap affordable? For many reasons:
  • You get your solar panels with no upfront costs.
  • You still get any Federal/city/state/utility rebates.
  • Your combined electric bill and PACE bill are typically less than what you were paying in electricity. Getting more no-brainer. But wait, there’s more.
  • Pace is entirely financed through bonds that don’t affect city budgets or non-solar tax payers, so your neighbors are happy.
  • The best part? If you sell your home after 5 or 10 years, no worries! There’s no remaining solar loan to pay off. Instead, the new home buyer takes over whatever’s left of the property tax assessment, and of course, the buyer gets solar savings as well. Such a deal, solar New Yorkers.

BUT WAIT. Before any of the above can happen, New York legislators have to pass a state law that allows cities to offer this type of financing. Apparently, there’s been a little foot dragging. By law makers. Go figure.

Fill out this petition and feel great that you took 2 minutes to yell and scream politely request that New York lawmakers pass this landmark solar legislation.

On behalf of solar in New York, my home state, thanks.  You rock for solar.

P.S. If PACE passes, New York will join 14 states (CA, CO, FL, LA, MD, NV, NM, OH, OK, OR, TX, VT, VA and WI) that have already made PACE an option. If you want PACE financing for a State that’s not listed above, fill out this petition and tell all of your Face Book friends and family to do the same.

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