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Rarely does the state of California’s government make an intelligent move, but today I have to give them congratulations.

The state enacted a new law that will require utility companies to buy electricity from homeowners and businesses that the generate that exceeds their usage and flows back to the power grid. Ideally, instead of having a power bill, you could be having a power check.

This is how green energy should work. Saving energy and being a conservationist is all well and good, but if you are running a business or household, it is more attractive if it also makes economic sense. Once there is a convergence of both economic and social benefit for making conservation a focal point then you will see adoption take off.

The new law in California will incent and reward companies that make smart use of alternative solar energy solutions. Adding this silly thing called ROI will make businesses sit up and take notice.

The Governor also signed AB 920 into law, which will offer incentives to both households and businesses to add rooftop solar power systems. Namely, it requires utilities to pay households and businesses for any surplus electricity they produce and contribute to the power grid. Previously, the surplus earned private generators nothing, and served as something of a disincentive to generate any surplus at all.

As California goes, so goes the nation? Perhaps. Many observers believe that hard economic times might have slowed green building initiatives–all building initiatives have slowed down, after all–but hardly stopped the movement.

“Green building techniques will continue to be important to the developers that are still developing properties,” Bill Di Santo, president of Schiller Park, Ill.-based Englewood Construction, told CPE. “But they need to be strategized so that they accomplish the goal of sustainability while also conforming to the budget constraints.” via Commercial Property Executive

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