New toolkit provides Arizona cities with ten ways to go solar

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Environment Arizona

TUCSON  — With municipalities playing an increasingly important role in the clean energy revolution, Environment Arizona Research and Policy Center just released a new toolkit to support cities and towns in capturing more clean renewable energy from the sun. The toolkit, Ten Ways Your Community Can Go Solar, offers practical ways for local governments to encourage solar energy installations in their communities.

“Our communities need solutions that match the scale of the environmental challenges we face,” said Bret Fanshaw, Go Solar Campaign Director with Environment Arizona Research and Policy Center. “Solar power can meet our energy needs without the pollution harming our climate and our health. Cities and their residents have much to gain by using solar energy.”

The City of Tucson is a leader in the use of solar energy in Arizona and has been recognized as a Solar America City by the US Department of Energy. Recently, the city adopted a policy for all new homes to be constructed as suitable for installing solar panels.

“Sunshine is abundant in Tucson and we want to encourage residents and businesses to go solar,” said Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. “One of the ways we’ve done that is to require new homes to be ‘solar-ready’.”

The new solar toolkit discusses how cities like Tucson can adopt ‘solar-ready’ home policies, as well as setting goals for solar use and expanding access to solar for all city residents. Mayor Rothschild is part of Environment Arizona’s Mayors for Solar Energy project, a bipartisan group of 235 mayors representing cities in all 50 states who agree on the need for more solar energy to power American communities.

“Cities can lead the way to make sure we capture much more clean energy from the sun,” said Fanshaw. “We applaud the City of Tucson for their leadership and encourage other Arizona cities to follow their example.”  

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Environment Arizona Research & Policy Center is dedicated to protecting air, water and open space by investigating problems, crafting solutions and educating the public.

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