Despite holdups from the federal government, our  local county officials here in Santa Barbara, CA., are implementing a plan to allow private property owners  to get affordable loans for green building upgrades. 

This instrumental program also known as emPowerSBC, will all allow the county to loan money to property owners for sustainable upgrades including solar projects and residents will repay the loans via their property tax bill. 

While making more buildings environmentally friendly, local officials believe this program could potentially bring in over $100 million in new contracts and create as many as 900 new jobs during the next decade.  This strategy is supported by the construction industry as well as environmentalists .  While this program is in hold, the county received more than $2.4 million in America Reinvestment and Recovery Act money that will pay for the admin costs for the initial three years of the program. This money combined with the $700,000 from the California Energy Commission is a great start to launching a new start for small, but energy efficient projects on a small, but local scale.

I have faith that small scale projects will be so much more effective in providing alternative energy, rather than the large scale projects.  With rebates and loans to make it possible for homeowners to implement cost saving plans, we can all benefit.