Feds help you save green on solar panels

Federal stimulus money is on the way to Los Angeles County for a program that will make it easier for homeowners and businesses to finance the installation of solar panels on their roofs.

The $15.4 million Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, awarded at the end of September, will pay the set-up costs for a loan program to make solar panels, weatherizing and other clean-energy retrofits affordable to residents and businesses in unincorporated county areas. (Talks are underway for cities to opt in to the county’s plan soon, too.) Without the stimulus money, the county lacked the funds to set up the program, says Howard Choy, director of energy program at the county’s Information Services Department.

Once the program is up and running, the county will make low interest loans, funded by municipal bonds, to property owners, who will pay back the county over time through their property tax bills. That easy-payment mechanism will eliminate the upfront costs that are a major impediment for property owners who want to go green but lack the upfront funds for costly clean-energy retrofits.

Didn’t know about the federal stimulus grant? You can find news about all of the county’s federal stimulus grant applications at its Stimulus Funding website. Scroll down to the Status of County ARRA Grant Applications (or click here) and you’ll find a scorecard of every grant application the county has made under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, President Obama’s $787 billion federal stimulus plan better known as ARRA.

The county’s scorecard lists all of the 39 grants totaling $368 million that the county has won, including for programs to boost spending on food stamps and homelessness. The site also lists grant applications that are filed but still pending, along with those that were denied, such as one to retrofit 128 aging diesel county Public Works work vehicles with pollution-cutting devices.

Much of the money comes in “primary” grants made directly to the county or one of its agencies. Also listed are “secondary” grants made to the state of California and passed on to L.A. County in the form of road-repairing funds through Caltrans.

County officials have promised to make the reporting process transparent to the public as well as the federal government. The county beat the feds’ initial October 10 deadline to file reports on the county’s spending of grant money, a detailed accounting of funding and expenditures. (Some states and localities didn’t get in under the wire; the federal managers had to extend the reporting period for 10 days.)

Come next reporting period—in early 2010—the county’s chief executive office will list the federal grants L.A. County has received, using enhanced charts and graphics, according to Scott Wiles, special services assistant in the Operations section of the CEO’s office.