20 October 2009

Sonoma County's Energy Independence Program (AB811)

I recently attended a lecture on Sonoma County's Energy Independence Program (AB811) and found an interesting opportunity for anyone looking to improve the efficiency of their home.

Sonoma County has about $100M earmarked to finance home energy and water efficiency projects that get repaid through homeowner's property tax bills. You can start with a $395 home energy audit to help determine which projects would be best for your home and pay for those projects over a twenty year period through your property tax bill. The financing is actually a voluntary assessment or lien on the property so that when you sell the home, the assessment stays with the home - not the owner.

Projects can be up to 10% of the assessed value of the home and include solar panels, insulation, heating and cooling systems, waterless urinals, cool roofing and energy efficient windows - among others.

For an energy audit go to Sustainable Spaces
For details on the program, go to http://www.sonomacountyenergy.org/

I'm putting some resources together on my webpage so check back occasionally.

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