Contractual Assessments: energy efficiency improvements, Assembly Bill 811 (AB 811) is an

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

law in California signed into law by

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

on July 21, 2008. AB 811 was authored by Assemblyman

Lloyd Levine Lloyd Edward Levine (born July 3, 1969) is a United States Democratic Party, Democratic politician who represented California's 40th State Assembly district from December 2, 2002 to November 30, 2008. In the Assembly, Levine served as the Majori ...

. AB 811 authorized all California cities and counties to designate areas within which willing property owners could enter into contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed

renewable energy generation Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, as well as

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

improvements, that are permanently fixed to the property owner's

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

, commercial,

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, or other

real property In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...

. These financing arrangements would allow property owners to finance renewable generation and energy efficiency improvements through low-interest loans that would be repaid as an item on the property owner's property tax bill. The contractual assessments could not be used to finance the purchase or installation of appliances that are not permanently fixed to the real property.{{Cite web, url=http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/published/Report/80173.htm, title = Approved AB 811 (LEVINE) Contractual assessments: Energy efficiency improvements Assembly Bill 811 helps California

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

accomplish the goals outlined by Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 The passage of AB 811 makes it more imperative to provide an energy efficiency community program. AB 811 states: "This act is an urgency statute...". Cities and counties can now: (1)Make energy-efficiency and renewable energy affordable for California citizens (2)Increase property values (3)Improve the efficiency and indoor air quality of residential & commercial properties (4)Reduce the burning of dirty fuels and hence, pollution (5)Lower

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

(6)Empower constituents with the fiscal security of distributed energy.

References

External sources

Assembly Bill 811 2008 in American law AB 811

See also

References

External sources