The White House has announced a new initiative to make solar more affordable for homeowners by making additional zero-down government loans available. Managing editor Tami Roleff has more…
The Obama Administration announced last week plans to make solar an option for all homeowners by allowing the Veterans Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development to insure mortgages for homeowners who financed solar and energy efficiency improvements by making payments on their property tax bill. California Governor Jerry Brown says government mortgage agencies should have been doing this all along.
“This makes everybody better off. The homeowner, the environment. And FHA and VA. Why doesn’t Freddie and Fannie do that? The Federal Housing Finance Agency, because of the mortgage meltdown, is so paranoid and so fearful, they won’t step up to the plate and do the right thing. ”
The president’s Climate Action Plan originally set a target of installing 100 megawatts of solar by 2020, but the White House has now upped the goal by a factor of 10, to one gigawatt.
Brown says this complements his stated goal of getting fifty percent of California’s energy from renewable sources by the year 2030.
“It is another important government effort to accelerate the movement toward renewable energy and efficient housing. So we’re not wasting water, gas and electricity and we’re using the sun as much as we can to get the job done.”
As part of the plan, several housing agencies in California have committed to putting more solar on government owned apartment complexes. The initiative will also increase job training for more solar installers to meet the expected rise in demand.
NEW FEDERAL INITIATIVE WILL HELP MORE CALIFORNIANS AFFORD SOLAR
