Category Archives: energy savings

San Diego County Seeks Expanded Rooftop Solar

Posted on June 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

Solar rooftop

Efforts to expand use of rooftop solar panels in unincorporated San Diego County took another step forward Tuesday.

In an ongoing initiative to remove some of the cloud over financing for such systems, county supervisors ordered a report on options for expanding the pool of commercial and residential lending programs.

Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Dave Roberts are leading the effort to grow the county’s public-private solar financing, which has been stymied because of a Federal Housing Financing Agency ruling that effectively blocks homeowners from repaying solar loans through annual property tax bills.

Does solar add value to your home? Did you not get credit on your appraisal for your solar? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value and appraisal questions.

Supervisors said the county program — known as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE — can’t get regulatory or legislative relief from the restriction.

The report is expected to examine adding a variety of financing alternatives but still limit the residential program to homes with no Federal Housing Administration loans and those with no outstanding loans whatsoever.

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Big Environmental Costs Equal Big Money for Some

Posted on June 16, 2013 | 1 comment

No more washing your car in the driveway. A leaky or poorly aimed sprinkler will become a city code violation. Roof gutters and rain barrels or cisterns probably will become mandatory on all buildings. Failing to pick up after Fido — in public or your own yard — will occupy the same place in no-no land as smoking inside a restaurant or letting your toddler stand on the back seat and watch you drive.

The new regulations specifically direct cities to create enforcement systems, so fines and even jail terms are coming for those who chronically allow tainted water to escape their properties.

Will rising water rates effect the value of your property? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

Whether cleaning San Diego County’s runoff will help or hurt the overall economy is a question that nobody can answer today.

The state agency that crafted the new regulations exempted itself from the cost/benefit analysis ordinarily required under California’s ban on unfunded mandates targeted at local government, because federal law requires runoff rules.

For most of the past 40 years, regulators targeted wastewater. The results have been dramatic; California no longer dumps chemicals and raw sewage directly into creeks — and the ocean is vastly cleaner.

Experts say cleaning runoff will yield far smaller gains. What’s clear is that scrubbing or preventing runoff will raise costs, thus adding another burden for California companies.

Innovation will surely cut those costs. We’re about to find out if the gains from this new industry will make up the difference.

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Posted in energy savings

Tagged california, rainwater, runoff, storm drains, water

Skylights – Free Lighting

Posted on June 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Buildings that let in more light work better for the people inside. Studies in schools retrofitted with large skylights have proved the benefits. Where extra sources are added, light bills go down, as expected, and test scores go up — as much as 25 percent. Even in classrooms with the same amount of light, the ones with natural sources dramatically outscore the ones with bulbs.

Do skylights add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

Over 20 years, several studies have tracked other benefits like reduced absenteeism and fewer behavior problems that may not apply around the house. But there’s no question that most people feel better and are more productive under natural light. There are two ways to bring it through the roof: skylights and light tubes.

Skylights

Skylights are a great option if you have a vaulted ceiling. The latest models are solar powered so you don’t have to rip into walls and ceilings to install wiring for motorized operation. There are screens, of course, also built in shades to filter direct sunlight in summer, and rain sensors that close the unit to prevent leaks even if you’re not home.

The problem with skylights is that most houses don’t have vaulted ceilings. They have attics. If yours is full-height finished living space skylights are fine — and less expensive and easier to install than dormers with windows. But if it’s a storage attic or crawl space with a maze of low-slope trusses, skylights present problems.

To bring light from the roof, through the attic, and into living spaces below you need to build a light well— a basic box connecting the roof to the finished ceiling. That requires a lot of framing, then drywalling, taping, sanding and painting. And if the attic isn’t heated the walls of the well have to be insulated because they’re an extension of conditioned living areas. In attics with conventional rafters you can slope the walls of the well to create a larger opening in the ceiling and let in more light. With trusses (the way most roofs are framed now), you’re limited by the maze of framing typically set 24 inches on center.

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Category Archives: energy savings

San Diego County Seeks Expanded Rooftop Solar

Big Environmental Costs Equal Big Money for Some

Skylights – Free Lighting

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