Please Fully Fund GoSolarSF!

The Issue

GoSolarSF has been a wildly successful solar incentives program that has more than quadrupled the number of solar rooftops in San Francisco from 583 to now more than 3,000.  In terms of solar installations per capita, GoSolarSF has brought San Francisco from last to first place amongst the nine Bay Area counties.  Additionally, GoSolarSF has brought equity to solar installations as the program has helped over 500 low-income households to go solar.

GoSolarSF has also spurred the creation of hundreds of new jobs among solar installers and clean technology companies attracted to the Bay Area’s new hub of solar innovation.  As the GoSolarSF program requires that installations be done by contractors who hire from the City’s workforce development programs, it creates opportunities for San Francisco’s economically vulnerable populations. 

Originally funded at $5 million, the GoSolarSF program was designed to leverage state and federal incentives to promote solar installations for homeowners and businesses with local dollars, targeting enhanced benefits for low-income homeowners with a requirement that participants draw workers from the City’s green job training programs.  

Two years ago, the budget was slashed to $2 million and funding ran out in just a few months.  In February 2013, advocates such as Sierra Club, Vote Solar, Brightline Defense, Asian Neighborhood Design, Luminalt, Solar City, Sunrun, SunEdison, Greenlining, and APRI successfully petitioned Mayor Ed Lee to double GoSolarSF funding starting in July 2013, but that money has mostly gone to back-fill pent-up customer demand.  As a result, the program is slowing down yet again and the SFPUC proposes to cut the program back to $2 million again starting on July 1, 2014.  Supervisor David Chiu called a hearing on the status and future of GoSolarSF on April 10, 2014.

We ask for your help to petition Mayor Lee and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to fully fund GoSolarSF at $5 million once again!  Let's make it happen!

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This petition had 220 supporters

The Issue

GoSolarSF has been a wildly successful solar incentives program that has more than quadrupled the number of solar rooftops in San Francisco from 583 to now more than 3,000.  In terms of solar installations per capita, GoSolarSF has brought San Francisco from last to first place amongst the nine Bay Area counties.  Additionally, GoSolarSF has brought equity to solar installations as the program has helped over 500 low-income households to go solar.

GoSolarSF has also spurred the creation of hundreds of new jobs among solar installers and clean technology companies attracted to the Bay Area’s new hub of solar innovation.  As the GoSolarSF program requires that installations be done by contractors who hire from the City’s workforce development programs, it creates opportunities for San Francisco’s economically vulnerable populations. 

Originally funded at $5 million, the GoSolarSF program was designed to leverage state and federal incentives to promote solar installations for homeowners and businesses with local dollars, targeting enhanced benefits for low-income homeowners with a requirement that participants draw workers from the City’s green job training programs.  

Two years ago, the budget was slashed to $2 million and funding ran out in just a few months.  In February 2013, advocates such as Sierra Club, Vote Solar, Brightline Defense, Asian Neighborhood Design, Luminalt, Solar City, Sunrun, SunEdison, Greenlining, and APRI successfully petitioned Mayor Ed Lee to double GoSolarSF funding starting in July 2013, but that money has mostly gone to back-fill pent-up customer demand.  As a result, the program is slowing down yet again and the SFPUC proposes to cut the program back to $2 million again starting on July 1, 2014.  Supervisor David Chiu called a hearing on the status and future of GoSolarSF on April 10, 2014.

We ask for your help to petition Mayor Lee and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to fully fund GoSolarSF at $5 million once again!  Let's make it happen!

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The Decision Makers

Edwin Lee
Edwin Lee
Mayor of San Francisco
Responded
“Thank you for signing the petition on Change.org to fully fund GoSolarSF. Building more sources of clean renewable energy, such as solar, is very important to me and for our City. It lowers greenhouse gas emissions and improves our air quality by reducing our reliance on dirty fossil fuel energy. And it creates job opportunities for our residents! I am happy to report that I have fully funded the GoSolarSF program at $5 million per year in my upcoming 2-year budget proposal. Since GoSolarSF was launched in 2008, we have put solar on over 2,500 homes, businesses, and nonprofits, quadrupling the number of solar rooftops in San Francisco. All of this is generating 8.1 megawatts of clean energy. But the success of GoSolarSF is more than the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or the amount of solar energy we are generating. The program makes solar energy accessible to low-income customers in environmental justice communities and creates good paying jobs for disadvantaged workers. We will be able to create even more green jobs with this additional funding. We want to continue to help homeowners, businesses, and nonprofits access the solar economy and do their part. The City is doing our part. In addition to the GoSolarSF program, the City is continuing to build new solar arrays on municipal buildings. Just a few weeks ago, I launched to new solar array on the rooftop of Davies Symphony Hall. The new array has 558 solar panels that will produce 182 kilowatts of solar energy. The San Francisco Symphony is known as one of the best classical ensembles in the world – and its home can now also lay claim to being one of the greenest! In the last three years, the SFPUC has installed 7 solar arrays similar to this one on schools and municipal buildings across our City. And because of it, the City’s total municipal solar generating capacity stands at 7.6 megawatts today! Combined with the GoSolarSF program, that means 15.7 megawatts of new solar energy for our City in the public and private sectors. We have prevented 7.7 million pounds of CO2 emissions which is equivalent to over 8,000 barrels of oil each year. And we have created hundreds of jobs in the solar industry and for disadvantaged workers from workforce training programs in San Francisco. Our innovative clean energy policies and programs are a big reason why San Francisco continues to lead the nation and world as a CleanTech hub attracting the innovators and industries that are creating a cleaner energy future for all of us. I want to thank you for your continued interest and engagement on this important issue and for supporting our GoSolarSF program. ”
SF Board of Supervisors
SF Board of Supervisors

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Petition created on April 7, 2014