A Bright Spot in California’s Real Estate Market

Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology. The growing popularity of household solar power is an encouraging sign for the thousands of solar enthusiasts and vendors gathering in Long Beach this week.

“The increase in sales velocity is actually paying for the solar systems,” says Julie Blumden, a vice president of a San Jose-based manufacturer of solar roof tiles. “The last time we saw interest in solar that was anything close to this was back in the 1980s, the first time there were federal tax credits for solar energy,” said Julia Judd Hamm, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Assn. “But the numbers then aren’t even comparable to what we’re seeing now.” Solar power is hotter than ever, helped by California’s ambitious Million Solar Roofs rebate program, federal tax credits and growing public and political support for renewable power of all kinds.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Business, Energy, Environmental, News, Personal Finance, Real Estate, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.