TIMES RECORD • January 19, 2021
Today hundreds of thousands of middle-class households across the U.S. are turning to solar power. But households with incomes below the median for their areas remain less likely to go solar. we analyzed five common solar policies and business models to see whether they attracted lower-income households. We found that three scenarios did: offering financial incentives to low- and moderate-income households; leasing solar panels to homeowners; and lending money to buy panels, with the loan repaid on property tax bills. All of these approaches resulted in people at a wider range of income levels trying solar energy. ~ Galen Barbose et al,, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory