Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Arlington County Board is "Environmentally Challenged"

From the Washington Post on February 25th:

Grants Available for Solar and Wind Power

The D.C. government announced yesterday that residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations and private schools can apply for grants of as much as $33,000 to install equipment for making energy from the sun or the wind.

The program will provide as much as $2 million citywide, drawn from taxes on the use of electricity and gas. It will be parceled out based on the capacity of the renewable-energy system installed: an installation of solar panels large enough to produce 3,000 watts would qualify for $9,000 in assistance, at $3 per watt. Systems that can produce 3,000 to 10,000 watts will qualify for $2 in assistance per watt, and those that produce 10,000 to 17,000 watts will qualify for $1 per watt.

The program applies only to those installing solar-or wind-powered systems. In the future, the D.C. Department of Environment said, it will offer grants for geothermal systems, those burning biomass and those relying on recovered methane.

For more information, and to download application materials, go to greenenergy.dc.gov.