Environmental Leader

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is challenging San Francisco’s largest 1,500 business to go solar by this time next year, and inviting them to join him as members of the Mayor’s Solar Founders’ Circle.

Those who become SFC members will receive free solar assessments and energy efficiency audits from the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

San Francisco has already launched a 10-year incentive program to lower the costs of solar for everyone, but the city wants to “lower the barriers even further,” said Newsom.

The Mayor’s Office says these businesses have the potential to install 170 megawatts of solar on their roofs—more than thirty times the amount of solar currently installed in city, and enough to power 42,000 local households.

The program is funded in part by a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities initiative, as well as SF Environment’s existing SF Energy Watch Program.

According to Greentech Media, the offer is an expansion of the city’s solar-incentive program enacted in July, which provides rebates for residential and commercial solar installations.

In April, New York City announced it is planning to install solar panels on city-owned buildings.

Earlier this year, the San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s board of directors voted overwhelmingly to charge area companies 4.4 cents per ton of carbon dioxide they emit, a first for the U.S.