Think Green Live Clean

It appears that San Francisco is beaming with success from its one-year-old solar energy incentive program that was set into place last July. Since its installation one year ago, there has been an increase of 450% in applications for solar installations in the city. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., and hopefully will set a precedent for all cities throughout the country.

San Francisco plans on continuing this expansion beyond the residential areas to large-scale municipal properties like the mammoth Sunset Reservoir, which has placed the city as third in California for number of rooftop solar installations. Ahead of San Francisco is Los Angeles and San Diego, both of which are significantly greater in size. However, on a per-capita basis, San Francisco takes the prize in leading the state’s cities for rooftop solar panels.

Not only is this increase in solar panels beneficial to our environment, the GoSolarSF program has created many new jobs in the city and is helping San Francisco’s economy. With a high demand of solar installations, the program has educated, trained, and employed many low-income city residents who graduate from their workforce development program. The program is also reaching out to low income communities, as it was recently announced that the city would be installing solar panels on at least three public housing sites, and that the actual residents would benefit from the savings in their power bills. That sounds like a bright idea to me!

To Learn more about San Francisco’s Solar Energy Incentive Program, click here.

You can see all of the city’s solar rooftops here.