Featured Items
2010 Qualified School Construction Bonds (updated August 2010)
The California Department of Education will be releasing its guidelines for the 2010 allocation of Qualified School Construction Bonds in late Summer/early Fall 2010 - just as soon as the Legislature defines the eligibility criteria. These 0% (or near 0%) interest bonds can underwrite the cost of a variety of school construction projects, however, the bill now in the Assembly (AB 2560) will make it unlikely that renewable energy systems will qualify - even though it is the only type of construction project that pays for itself! Contact us for more information on how this oversight can be corrected! For more information on the 2009 allocation and to be put on the CDE notification list for the 2010 bond allocation see the CDE website.
Webinar on financing your school district's solar panels is now online! (February 2010)
KyotoUSA and SunPower Corp. recently hosted a free webinar on renewable energy systems for public schools and how school districts can finance them. The webinar is now available on-line. You can get to the one hour broadcast from this link.
HELiOS Project
The HELiOS Project began as an effort by KyotoUSA and Berkeley residents concerned about climate change who saw an opportunity to turn that concern into local action. We realized that it is possible to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging our schools to reduce their energy consumption and install renewable energy systems on their roofs. Doing so would provide a financial benefit to our schools and give us an opportunity to show our children that we take the real threat of global warming seriously. Learn more...
One School's Solar Project Fuels a Movement
In August 2008, KyotoUSA released a report, using Berkeley's Washington Elementary School as a case study, demonstrating that installing solar systems on schools leads to a quantifiable increase in jobs, boosts the local economy, reduces carbon dioxide and other harmful toxic air emissions and improves the health of those living in the area where the electricity is generated. Watch a video about this exciting project. The study also shows that the electricity derived from the photovoltaic systems improves the long-term economic well-being of the school district. Click here to Learn more...
