Homeowners looking for alternative energy sources during a winter of rapidly escalating home-heating costs have been given an incentive to explore solar power by one local bank.
Wainwright Bank, a business that is known for investing in the community, announced on Tuesday, Feb. 13, that it is offering reduced-rate Green Loans. Under this program, customers seeking to buy a solar energy system for their home can receive up to 1 1/4 percent off the interest rate of a home equity loan.
"This is the most significant thing any bank in
the nation has done to support solar investments and
help avoid a California-style energy crisis, "
said Nicole Wobus of the Massachusetts Energy Consumers
Alliance, which championed the initiative.
The bank announced its Green Loan initiative one day before a panel of politicians and business leaders met in Washington to consider whether New England could face the type of electricity shortages that continue to cause Californians to sit without power for periods of time.
While most experts agree that New England will not face such an energy crisis, they are also urging people to consider alternative forms of energy sources, such as solar power.
Mass. Energy is working with Solar Boston, another consumer watchdog group, to increase solar energy use in the Boston area. Wobus said the two organizations approached Wainwright Bank last summer, during the first brown-outs in California, and challenged the bank to stand behind its reputation as a socially responsible institution.
Wainwright Bank and Trust is a Boston-based community bank with a reputation for providing mortgages for low-income resident housing and giving loans to community development projects and small businesses.
Under the bank's Green Loan initiative, customers investing
in a solar system can receive a one percent break off
the interest rate of a home equity loan, and an additional
quarter percent if they have payments automatically
deducted from a Wainwright Bank checking account.
Most home solar energy systems are passive solar systems, meaning they store and distribute heat from the sun without the use of other electric devices such as fans. Passive home solar systems are typically used in conjunction with traditional energy such as gas or oil. The solar heat is typically used to heat water and to generate electricity year-round.
Wobus said a $20,000 home solar system will provide the average home with all the energy it needs for about 30 years, but that many homeowners opt for a smaller solar system. She said a $6,000 system will offset about a third of a home's energy needs.
At $6,000, Wainwright's Green Loan will save customers a few hundred dollars, said Wobus. Homeowners who buy a full or partial solar system could experience significant savings on energy costs over the life of the solar system, depending on the price of oil and gas in the future.
" We see all over the news about the rising costs of energy, we're sort of held hostage to a looming energy crisis. This is something consumers can do to gain more energy independence, " said Wobus. " There's no way to deny the fact that fossil fuels are a finite recourse, and it's going to be more and more expensive to develop and exploit those resources over time. "
In the future, Wainwright Bank said it plans to offer their Green Loans to a broader range of energy efficiency projects.
For more information about solar energy or to find out about other energy efficiency projects, contact the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance, at 524-3950, or at www.massenergy.com. ^ back to top ^ |
