Solar Power Is Now an Option for Even the Most Cash-Strapped Suburbanites

[alienlovechild 75]

Say hello to the thing that could save our sun-splashed suburban lifestyle: affordable residential solar power that puts roof-top solar panels within reach of the most cash-strapped America consumer. This breakthrough is not a result of technological innovation, but a new financing scheme cooked up on Wall Street called a "residential solar lease," a no-money-down, low-monthly plan that has made solar electricity cheaper than the stuff we get by wire. It's an old approach to a new source of energy, and it is taking California by storm.

"Go solar for $0 down. Now you can afford to go solar without the high initial cost of installing a system. Instead of buying the equipment, you simply lease it," boasts the Web site of SolarCity, a well-financed Silicon Valley start-up that has been pioneering the residential solar lease.

A solar lease is a fairly simple arrangement that is not unlike a car lease. Instead of dishing out tens of thousands of dollars upfront to buy and install a rooftop solar array, homeowners simply borrow one for a low monthly fee. Like a car lease, customers sign a contract that locks them in for a specified period of time with the option of extending their lease or buying the panels at the end of the contract. It makes sense when you consider that a typical homeowner would have to cough up between $20,000 and $50,000 to buy and install a solar panel system. A solar lease, on the other hand, would only cost them somewhere around $100 a month.

SolarCity, one of the first companies to aggressively market solar leases, signs people up for 15-year contracts that run an average of $110 a month (with a 3.5-percent increase every year). SolarCity says customers can typically expect to shave 15 percent off their electricity bill from day one, with savings potentially growing over time if energy costs continue to rise. Competing companies -- like SunRun out of San Francisco or American Solar Electric out of Scottsdale -- offer the same basic deals.

Plenty of consumers buying homes and cars and other stuff they couldn't afford were suckered into long-term commitments thinking nothing down was a steal. This may make sense in CA but I don't think I've ever paid a $100/mo. for electricity.

I haven't seen a single new solar panel on a home around there and I'm fairly far down South living in Georgia.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs all have been in the solar lease game from the beginning, in large part because they have been able to rig the financing and government subsidy structure in a way that guarantees profits, allowing them to easily recoup their investments through complicated tax credit and green energy derivatives schemes -- all of if risk free.

rig the financing and government subsidy structure in a way that guarantees profits

rig the financing and government subsidy structure in a way that guarantees profits

rig the financing and government subsidy structure in a way that guarantees profits

In other words TAX the real businesses because without subsidys It cannot fly on its own.