Solar in Philadelphia Part I

Earlier this year, Lewine was paying to power her house with solar energy. Thankfully since installing solar panels, her monthly energy bill has been close to zero dollars.

Lewine signed up for Solarize Philly, a year-old program for homeowners who were contemplating going solar. She was able to get financing for around $13,000 installation that came with a discount on panels. This discount is included in the group-buying programs like Solarize.

Introduction

Solarize’s program is distinct, since it’s part of a larger, city initiative to seek solar energy efficiency while simultaneously soothing financial burden on the city's most economically vulnerable residents.The Philadelphia Energy Authority is completing it’s second round of Solarize.

It includes a special financing pilot program provided for 45 households earning more than 150 percent of the federal poverty line but less than 80 percent of area median income for a family of four. Solarize is one part of a billion-dollar aim called the Philadelphia Energy Campaign.

The campaign is geared at decreasing the city's carbon impacts through clean energy and retrofitting facilities for efficiency while assisting lower income residences through cutting prices and locating employment. The Energy Authority celebrated a group of high school students who fulfilled a clean energy training program.

Within it’s first year, the campaign assisted 225 jobs, projecting 600 by the end of this year. This program hopes to develop 10,000 jobs in clean energy sectors within the next 10 years. Emily Schapira, executive director of the Philadelphia Energy Authority, notes that the renewable energy market in Philadelphia needed motivation to resolve unrest about whether installations were viable in this area.

"It needed a set of consumer protections and sort of a thumbs-up from the government saying, 'Yep, now's a great time to do it. Here's what it looks like. We'll make sure you're not getting cheated.' That kind of stuff," Schapira says.

The Goal

Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability believes that approximately 80 percent of the city's carbon emissions originate from the industry. The city has set a goal of decreasing its greenhouse gas output by 80 percent by the year 2050. Motivating clean energy adoption is merely one aspect of this goal. In the first round, 186 households signed up that’s has initiated momentum for the program.

Philadelphia's solar market is now the fourth fastest-growing in the the United States, according to Ohm Analytics. At this point, it’s only attracting a wealthier class of homeowners with a 26 percent poverty rate. Over half of the first round of Solarize customers paid cash for the installation, according to Schapira."So you can see who we're sort of serving there, and it's great – we still want them to do it, of course," she says.

"But we're really looking at where we can do something helpful, and if we don't add something to the mix here, there's no reason for us to be doing it." In addition to the component, the campaign has pilot programs for retrofitting public schools, municipal buildings, and housing projects.

During another pilot program completed, three housing complexes owned by Mission First Housing Group, were retrofitted with smart thermostats, weatherstripping for air conditioning units and exterior doors, new insulation for water pipes and shower heads, LED lighting fixtures, occupancy sensors and new refrigerators, according to Jessica Moore, the group's director of asset management.

The project completed around 100 units in three different types of complexes – connected town homes, a refurbished mansion, and a traditional apartment building. It's geared to decrease energy prices for both Mission First and its tenants, most of whom earn around 50 percent of the area median income, she says.

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