In late October, I wrote about Berkeley's plan to finance the cost of solar panels for property owners who agree to pay it back with a 20-year assessment on their property. Last week, there was an Associated Press story about a San Francisco initiative that would offer companies and residents government-funded loans and rebates to offset the costs of installing solar panels:

Under San Francisco's proposal, which must be approved by voters and legislators, businesses would be eligible for rebates of up to $10,000. Residents would receive $3,000 to $5,000 off the cost of installing solar panels depending on whether they use a local contractor and are working on property in a neighborhood near a power plant.

The city would underwrite the cost of the loans, which commercial and residential owners would be expected to pay back through annual tax assessments on their properties…

The loan piece of the program would need to be approved by voters as a ballot initiative, while the refund part would need the support of the Board of Supervisors, San Francisco's equivalent of a city council.

It's encouraging to see that viable choices for making the switch to solar power are being presented to voters in California.

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