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Murray calls for tripling of the solar tax credit

April 20, 2006 By smart-sexy--liberal

The typical residential system is a three kilowatt system and costs approximately $20,000 to purchase and install.  This system can provide between half to almost all of a household requirements for power depending on usage and also on the time of year and weather conditions.  Smaller two kilowatt systems are also used and cost around $15,000.

The state currently offers a tax credit up to $1,000 towards the cost of the purchase and installation of solar panels on residences.  Sen. Edward M. Augustus, Jr., who represents the Second Worcester district, intends to file a bill on Murray’s behalf to increase the tax credit.

“This proposal will make solar panels more affordable,” said Peggy Middauth, Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Council.  “We recognize that, at the moment, the cost of installing solar panels is still prohibitive, but the cost will decrease as more people buy into the market.  Solar panels are a clean energy option which is good for the environment and good for the homeowner.”

Murray concluded, “During the hottest days of the summer, the demand for electricity skyrockets and a number of sources are now expressing concerns about the possibility of brownouts and rationing.  Also, during this time period, the electricity grid has to pay a super premium to power producers to produce additional electricity.  If  we had enough panels to even reduce demand by a few percentage points, it could significantly reduce the likelihood of brownouts and also reduce the price.”

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Filed Under: User Tagged With: alternative-energy-sources, environment, renewable-energy, solar-energy, tim-murray

Comments

  1. cos says

    April 20, 2006 at 3:53 pm

    When you have a long string without spaces, like the line of “=============” in this post, browsers can’t (or at least, if they follow the spec, shouldn’t) wrap it to multiple lines.  Depending on a person’s screen size and resolution, font size, and the size of their browser window, you can’t know when you’re forcing the text to be significantly wider than their screen.  That makes the post annoying to read, because the reader has to scroll left and right with each line (it also hides the right sidebar, and may hide the
    “post a comment” box too).

    <

    p>
    You can never know what size browser windows, fonts, etc., other people are using.  You can make a reasonable assumption that they’re set up to comfortably read text with “normal” long words, so something up to say 20 characters is never a problem.  But 60 might be.

    <

    p>
    If you want a horizontal separator, use the <hr /> tag – that’s what it’s there for.

    <

    p>
    (I’ll come back later and actually read your post if it’s fixed 🙂

    • smart-sexy-&-liberal says

      April 20, 2006 at 8:20 pm

      Can I edit a post?

      • bob-neer says

        April 20, 2006 at 11:44 pm

  2. smitty7764 says

    April 20, 2006 at 6:15 pm

    It’s refreshing that a candidate is looking seriously at energy and how we can find new ways to get the demand while helping ourselves. This could create jobs yes in Mass for once. Once solar energy takes off we could really make some great things happen not only in our state but in the entire country. Mass could once again be a cataylist for the rest of the country on an issue of such vast importance.

  3. lala says

    April 21, 2006 at 2:54 pm

    As an economics major, with some background in psychology, one of the only ways to get people to do things is a powerful incentive structure.  Currently, at $1,000 dollars for tax break, the $20,000 dollar installation fee and maintenance of the unit does no fit a cost-benefit ratio analysis. 

    <

    p>
    I think it’s great that Mayor Murray is running for Lt. Governor.  We NEED people in Massachusetts governement that can use their creativity and inventiveness to recognize that improving the incentive structure for these environmentaly friendly solar panels would increase the number of people who buy them. 

    <

    p>
    The energy crisis is proving to be a huge burden right now in this country, and will only get worse as most economic analysts predict.  Coming up with creative ideas to increase the amount of people who buy these units and help the environment proves Mayor Murray’s strength as a powerful leader and thinker. 

    <

    p>
    I agree with SSL, this just gives me another reason to support him!

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