photo: Scott Kraft

If you live in Berkeley, California and have been put off by the initial costs of installing solar panels on your house, this one’s for you. Yesterday the City Council unanimously approved a program to give city-backed loans to homeowners to install solar panels, with the loan being payed off over 20 years on the owner’s property tax bill ( New York Times). Each loan would likely be around $22,000. It’s not a done deal though, one obstacle still remains: