Sausalito City Hall sets solar example

August 19, 2008

SAUSALITO gets its fair share of fog, but that isn't keeping city officials from encouraging residents to think solar.

Sausalito will install solar panels on City Hall and the company doing the work has agreed to offer residents a discount on solar panels if enough homeowners agree to participate.

We endorse such efforts to get more people interested in going solar. And because the upfront cost often is an obstacle, such discounts can make the difference.

Marin has a track record of such group buys working.

Lisa Max launched a grassroots effort called Go Solar Marin (www.gosolarmarin.com) last year when she wanted to install solar on her San Rafael home and figured that banding together was the way to get a lower price. Her campaign took off and resulted in more than 100 photovoltaic systems being installed in the county before the discount through SPG of Novato ended in April.

Go Solar Marin did valuable leg work, including evaluating bids from numerous companies.

We are pleased that a Marin city essentially is doing the same thing.

"It's a great way to get people interested in solar," said Dane Faber, chairman of the city's Sustainability Committee.

Each home and neighborhood is different, which adds complexity to solar panels that many homeowners find daunting - along with the cost, which often is about $20,000 for a typical home. A group discount could generate a discount of $3,000 to $5,000.

Officials

with SolarCity, the Foster City firm working with Sausalito, say they are still working on the details of the program, which will include figuring out how many participants would be needed to make it work and what the discount might be. The firm will offer free assessments to give homeowners an idea of how effective solar panels would be on their property.

The first step toward installing solar on a home or business is learning about the process and what is available. Sausalito homeowners could well choose to use another solar panel provider - and there are many based in Marin - but the city will have raised awareness, which is what's really important as we wrestle with climate change and try to reduce our use of non-renewable forms of energy.

The Sausalito Sustainability Commission and SolarCity will explain details of the program at a meeting at the Sausalito Bay Model at 10 a.m. Sept. 6.

A wealth of information about solar panels and other green issues is available at the Marin County Sustainability Team's Web site.

It's been said before, but in this case knowledge truly is power.