Assemblyman Paul Fong

California's disadvantaged could get powered up with solar




Proposed legislation would require the installation of small-scale rooftop solar systems in areas that really need it - low-income and underserved neighborhoods in California.

Assembly bill 1990 by Paul Fong, D-Mountain View, would prompt the installation of 375 megawatts of generating capacity from small-scale renewable generation facilities. The goal is to "benefit the communities where electrical utility customers live, especially in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities with high unemployment that bear a disproportionate burden from air pollution, disease, and other impacts from the generation of electricity from the burning of fossil fuels," the legislation says.

375 megawatts of clean energy equates to removing about 50 passenger vehicles from the road annually. California Watch has more here.