financing and ABC article [RE-wrenches]

[RE wrenches]

For those who had a hard time with the ABC link - here is the cut and paste
version after my post.

I like the idea of "bundling" and offering one stop shopping/financing...
but it's gotta be easy.

Here is Ohio - our only "incentive" program has been a "low interest loan"
program from the state, funded through utility public benefit charge.  The
customer arranges financing with their bank, the state makes a large deposit
earning below market interest and the customer's loan rate is cut in half.
This might be worth it to go through the BIG bureaucratic hassle, convince
your bank to do the same etc... IF we were cutting an 18% loan rate down to
8% - but in reality, most of my customers who finance do it with a home
equity loan at about 6% and the 3% cut is not worth the hassle.  Millions
are sitting unused as no one is going along with this program.  Luckily -
our allies in state gov and our state wide non-profit GEO have been
effective and we hope to tap this fund for grants soon.  Bottom line is,
IMHO, loans aren't what we need.

Sorry for the non-technical post on a techie group, but thought it an
appropriate follow up to the ABC link and other finance posts...



Sincerely,

Geoff Greenfield
NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer TM
GLREA Certified Photovoltaic Systems Integrator/Installer License Number
0211-01

THIRD SUN SOLAR AND WIND POWER Ltd.
340 West State Street, Unit 25
Athens, OH 45701

Phone (740) 597-3111
Fax   (740) 597-1548

www.third-sun.com



FROM ABC WEBSITE -

Some argue that providing federal assistance to those who install solar
power panels on their homes could improve national security.
David Quinn/AP Photo

 Power to the People
Group Argues Feds Should Assist Homeowners Purchase Solar Panels
By Lee Dye
Special to ABCNEWS.com
March 4— To pioneering astronomer Aden Meinel, the message was loud and
clear decades ago. The flow of oil from the Middle East to the United States
had slowed to a trickle, bringing this country to its knees and sounding
what should have been a rousing wake up call.


President Jimmy Carter had chosen Meinel to lead a group of fellow
scientists on an important investigation. Carter wanted the answer to a
basic question: Could solar energy help free the nation from its growing and
alarming dependence on foreign oil?
Meinel had all the right credentials to answer that question. He and his
wife, Marjorie, also an astronomer, had developed telescopic instruments
that are still in use to this day, and as the founder of the Kitt Peak
National Observatories in Arizona, he helped bring his science to the
masses. So in a report to the president, and later in a book, the Meinel's
argued that the country could not afford to lose any time in developing a
broad-based national solar energy program.

But somewhere along the way the oil spigots were turned on again, and the
long lines at the gas stations disappeared, and the report from Meinel's
committee began collecting dust. The husband and wife team, who hold many of
the top prizes in astronomy and optics, campaigned across the country to try
to get their message across, but fewer and fewer people seemed to be
listening.

Now, they are both elderly and in poor health. Meinel is so distressed over
a recent surgery on his wife that he could not even talk on the telephone.

But the torch has been picked up by a woman who grew up "eating science for
dinner." Their daughter, one of seven children Marjorie raised while working
alongside her husband, has made solar energy her own passion. And she has
come up with an intriguing concept.

Home Ownership Model

The idea came to Elaine Supkis while advising someone on how to get a home
loan through the Federal Housing Administration, which made home ownership
possible for millions of Americans.

"I thought, I'm a dummy," Supkis says. "We could do this for solar energy,
too."

Supkis had powered her own home for years with solar cells on the roof, so
she knew first hand that the technology works. Even in upstate New York,
there was enough sunlight to meet her needs throughout the year. In the
nation's sun belt, including places like Arizona, where she played on the
summit of Kitt Peak as a child, gigawatts of potential electricity were
going unused.

As with any new technology, the roadblocks to solar energy are primarily
economic. Solar cells, which convert sunlight to electricity through
photovoltaics, are more expensive than cheap oil. So there is little
incentive for a homeowner to spend thousands on a solar system when a power
line runs just outside the door. "Right now, energy is cheap," Supkis says.
"But it's not going to be cheap in the future. That we can absolutely
guarantee. So we have to prepare today for the time when it will not be
cheap."

But there's that old problem again. Expensive systems can't compete with
cheap systems, at least not in the marketplace.

So Supkis's solution is to make solar systems pay for themselves.

"In the Great Depression, Roosevelt started home loans for people because
you couldn't buy a house unless you had a lot of cash to put down," Supkis
says. FHA loans closed much of the gap between the rich and the poor, making
it possible for most Americans to own their own homes.

Supkis is campaigning for the federal government to create a solar energy
program based on the FHA format. The program would initially be funded by
the government, with perhaps about $100 billion in "seed" money. That money
would be loaned to people who want to install solar cells on their homes or
businesses, and it would be paid back, with interest, on a schedule based on
the income of the applicant.

The payments would be "recycled" as loans to new applicants, thus producing
a self-sustaining system.

"It needs to be self perpetuating," she adds.

Good Idea, But...

One way to make it palatable would be to make the payments the same as the
applicant pays for electricity through the local utility. And if the system
produces more electricity than the home owner needs, the excess could be
sold to the utility.

Eventually, when the loan is paid off, the system will provide "free"
electricity to the home, and the sale of excess energy could provide a
little cash, thus stimulating the need to exercise restraint in energy
usage.

Supkis says she picked the figure of $100 billion "out of my hat," but she
notes it's about what the United States plans to spend in the effort to
rebuild Iraq.

Unfortunately, like so many timely ideas these days, this one probably won't
go anywhere either. As long as energy remains relatively cheap, it's easy to
put this aside, ignoring a problem that isn't going to go away.

But photovoltaic systems have vastly improved over the past few years, and
more and more public utility companies and government agencies are launching
efforts to tap into a resource that won't run dry. Imagine how far that
technology would advance if there was a viable marketplace filled with home
owners eager to buy the latest system, with just a little help from Uncle
Sam.

Nothing stimulates progress like money.

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