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Ventura County Roundup : VENTURA : Couple Find It Pays to Install Solar Panels

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Keith York of Ventura says he’s “kind of one of those nuts” who gets involved with all sorts of environmental causes.

But more than just green politics prompted York and his wife, Claudette, both 60, to layer solar panels across the roof of their two-story Cliffside Circle home.

It was also the money.

The California Energy Commission gave the couple more than $10,000 to pay for the solar equipment as an incentive to use the alternative energy source. That covered nearly two-thirds the $17,512 price tag of buying and installing the panels.

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With time, Keith York says, the solar panel system will save enough on his electricity bill that it will pay for itself. There’s also the satisfaction of living your politics, he said.

“I believe in it,” York said.

The incentive program is part of a state effort to nudge consumers into using renewable energy sources. If they dangle carrots, state officials believe, alternative energies can hold their own on the commercial market.

Sunny Southern California is the perfect place to sell that message, officials say.

“We have a tremendous [energy] resource here in California,” said Claudia Chandler, an Energy Commission spokeswoman. “It only makes sense to use some of that . . . in a practical way.”

The state has $540 million available to offer incentives in both the private and commercial sectors. Payouts for residents such as York will be phased out over four years.

By that time, state officials believe the alternative energy market will be on its feet and ready to slug it out with conventional power companies, Chandler said.

Interest in solar and wind power is on the rise, said Judy Ledford, president of Renewable Energy Concepts Inc., the San Luis Obispo-based company that installed the Yorks’ system. The company installs about 25 alternative-power systems every year, she said.

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“I think the more people know about it, the more people are interested because it is a reliable technology and it’s good for the environment,” said Ledford, who founded the company with her husband, Fred Sisson.

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