CA Municipality Considers City-wide Solar Program

[RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The Roseville Electric Utility, in Roseville, California, went before the city council this week for approval of a first-ever California municipal program aimed at building 20 percent of all new homes with solar panels and other cost-saving energy efficiency measures. The program would result in up to 4,000 new solar homes built in Roseville over the next ten years and up to 8 MW of new solar power generating capacity. If approved, the details of the Blueprint for Energy Efficiency and Solar Technology or BEST Homes proposal would be developed over the next six months with final adoption by June 2006. The effort would be the first time a California municipality has ever proposed such a program, according to Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California and leading advocate for the Million Solar Roofs initiative.