Sen. Sanders Introduces 10 Million Solar Home Initiative

This is an interesting way to go about encouraging commercial and residential property owners to install either solar PV or solar thermal on their rooftops (in addition to propping up the solar industry). Senator Sanders' (I-VT) bill would like to see 10 million solar installations completed within a decade.

I hope that there is a provision in this bill that requires an energy audit by a certified professional (see RESNET) and subsequent mitigation (insulation, caulking, new windows, etc.) before the installation of a solar system and acquisition of a tax credit. In other words, it is always necessary to weatherize and make your home or building energy efficient before spending any money on a solar system. In particular with respect to solar PV, pinpointing your exact yearly electricity consumption helps to size the solar PV system. For example, if you are already using (and wasting) more energy because of a leaky home with no installation, the kilowatt output of your PV array will be sized much larger (which is more expensive) than what you would need if your home was weatherized and altered to consume less electricity. So get that energy audit first and save yourself some money upfront and by then hopefully Senator Sanders' bill will become law.