The city's GoSolarSF program, created in July 2008, offers grants to residents who install solar panels on their homes. The grants range from $500 to $7,000, the San Francisco Chronicle reports; they are available to households with incomes below a certain limit.
"We really changed the face of solar in San Francisco," said city assessor-recorder Phil Ting, who created the initiative.
Three solar installers are changing the face of the industry, too. The Mercury-News, a paper based in Silicon Valley, reports that SolarCity, SunRun and Sungevity are making solar affordable in new ways.
SolarCity offers no-money-down leases on home solar equipment. Even with the lease payments factored in, the savings on electricity are substantial enough to lower homes' overall energy costs, the paper says. SolarCity is growing rapidly; it plans to expand to five more states in 2010.
SunRun has a similar scheme: homeowners put a small amount down and contract to buy the electricity their leased systems generate.
And Sungevity calculates the benefits of going solar by measuring homes' roof angle via satellite. It brings the sales process online, the Mercury-News reports, easing homeowners' solar purchases.
