A bill passed by the Legislature will allow municipalities to create finance zones and issue bonds for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Nick Gautreaux, D-Abbeville, is based on a pilot program in Berkeley, Calif., although the California program is mainly about putting solar panels on homes. The Louisiana program could apply to solar, wind, or energy efficiency retrofits on homes or commercial buildings. In Berkeley, there are more than 40 separate bonds, one for each project, an Alliance for Affordable Energy researcher says. That city is looking for a less cumbersome process, and it is unclear how the funding model would look here. People can pay the bonds back over 20 years on their property taxes, although with Louisiana’s low property tax rate that method may not work in this state. But despite the uncertainty, Wade Byrd, president of Performance Building Consulting in Baton Rouge, calls SB 224 a “fantastic” bill. Byrd says he has been named to the six-person commission that will study the concept in East Baton Rouge Parish, although the commission has not met yet. “This legislation (SB 224) is probably the most forward-thinking piece of public policy the state has implemented in my lifetime,” says Troy Von Otnott, founder and president of South Coast Solar in New Orleans. “I think Louisiana is on the vanguard of renewable energy public policy in the United States.”—David Jacobs
http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/2009/jul/02/1064/
Tags: LA Solar News
