NY Passes Model Energy Efficiency, Low Carbon Power Legislation
NY State passed important, innovative legislation to encourage clean technology investment, The Power NY Act of 2011.
The law fast-tracks the approval process for low-carbon projects and those that reduce the emissions of existing power plants. It also directs regulators to set new, tougher limits on power plant emissions.
It fast-tracks the approval process by streamlining siting and regulatory requirements for utility-scale cleantech projects and it allows small businesses and residents to finance smaller projects.
Middle-class residents and small business owners that don’t qualify for low-income weatherization programs will be able to get state loans to finance energy efficiency improvements and pay them back through energy savings on their utility bills.
The Center for Working Families, a NY-based public policy organization, says this "on-bill financing" will open the door for NYSERDA, the state’s energy authority, to raise an estimated $5 billion in private investment in the state’s energy economy.
"Utility bills’ low default rates and strong collections leverage provide unprecedented security for green capital investing in building retrofits," the group says.
As a result, they say on-bill financing will create 14,000 jobs in the state.
California Revokes HOV Perk for Hybrid Drivers
Beginning today, hybrid car drivers in California lose a much-loved perk: permission to drive alone in the carpool lane.
For the past six years, 85,000 hybrid owners with key-shaped yellow bumper stickers have been allowed to drive solo in HOV lanes, cutting their commute times up to half, according to the Associated Press.
But the state always planned to eliminate the incentive when it reached its goal of incentivizing enough people to buy hybrids. Virginia also plans to revoke the privilege next summer, while other states, such as Arizona, Colorado and New York say they will keep it in place as long as traffic conditions allow – they haven’t reached anywhere near the sales volume that California has.
The HOV perk was indeed, a major driver of hybrid sales in California. They now make up 425,000 of nearly 32 million registered vehicles in the state. The decals quickly became a status symbol. Reports of thieves peeling off the stickers went up, as did the resale value of a used hybrid with decals.
Now, California wants to incentivize people to buy more advanced cars, like plug-in hybrids, electric, hydrogen or compressed natural gas. Starting Jan. 1, the state will hand out 40,000 green decals to those drivers.
Toyota’s launch of its plug-in hybrid could be postponed because of the production problems related to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
California Broadens Tax Incentives for Solar
Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill X1 15 that revises California law to broaden an existing tax incentive available for solar projects.
Currently, solar installations added to a property are excluded from tax-rate reassessment. The new law clarifies that solar systems sold in sale-leaseback deals receive the same exemption.
Therefore, if a big box retailer sells a store with a roof-top solar installation to the bank and leases the property back to generate a large sum of cash, the tax exemption remains in place for the bank.
According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, accountants in the state already interpreted the law in this fashion, but it was not clear until passage of the new bill this week.
Passage of the bill also clears the way for major solar installer SunEdison to move its headquarters from Baltimore to California. The company, owned by solar cell manufacturer MEMC, relies on sale-leaseback arrangements in financing many of its projects, and was holding off on a move to the state until the legislation was clarified.
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