The Rooftop Revolution
Great article on “feed in tariffs”
As the price of oil has plunged and the credit crisis has hit full force, investment in renewable energy has plummeted. But Gainesville, Florida has managed to buck the trend–by implementing a rarely used policy in the US: that of “feed-in tariffs”. Under this system, the local power company is required to buy renewable energy from independent producers, no matter how small, at rates slightly higher than the average cost of production. This means anyone with a cluster of solar cells on their roof can sell the power they produce at a profit. The costs of the program are passed on to ratepayers, who see a small rise in their electric bills (in Gainesville the annual increase is capped at 1 percent). While rate hikes are seldom popular, the community has rallied behind this policy, because unlike big power plant construction—the costs of which are also passed on to the public—everyone has the opportunity to profit, either by investing themselves or by tapping into the groundswell of economic activity the incentive creates.
This is an excellent article that explains in great detail how this policy could spur more investment in the renewable sector–drawing largely on the experience of Germany–and how this can result in job creation, greenhouse gas reductions, and expanded economic activity (three things we could definitely use at the moment!).
