Bringing More Solar/Renewable Energy to California

For more on the topic below—which will especially be of interest to Californians—please refer to my commentaries “Seizing the Time,” Monterey County Weekly, July 23-29, 2009, page 15; and “Let the Sunshine In,” Salinas Californian, July 28, 2009, page 3. 

The Monterey County Weekly went solar-powered in April 2007.  And as Weekly CEO and founder Bradley Zeve explained—regarding his investment of a quarter million dollars in photovoltaic cells —he is, albeit happily, “financially married to them for the next 13 years.”

The costly initial investment in a solar system does make it prohibitive for most business and residential property owners.  Now, however, California property owners have a new opportunity to unplug from fossil fuel, coal, and other greenhouse gas-inducing systems and to switch to solar and other clean energy sources.

This new opportunity is possible through the establishment of clean energy programs administered under  California Assembly Bill 811, which would help meet greenhouse gas reduction goals of Assembly Bill 32.  Berkeley, Palm Desert, Santa Monica, and Sonoma County have already established such programs.  And the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is considering one too.

As my Weekly commentary states, such a program can strengthen our local economy while helping to reverse climate change right where we live and work.

Mayors of eleven cities in Monterey County have voiced to the Board of Supervisors their personal support.  A next step is for local City Councils to act.  Residents, local business owners, civic and religious groups, and others are urged to contact their city council members now and ask that they pass a resolution in support of a Monterey County Clean Energy Revolving Fund.