A. Imagine a locally owned and operated, non-profit, 5,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant, funded by the state, that produces high quality solar panels, skillfully made and carefully installed, by local workers/residents of our community. BENEFITS: Creates 213 direct middle class manufacturing and construction jobs. 763 total job growth, including indirect jobs. Saves residents money every month, maintained by cap-and-trade funding; projected to last 25+ years. Monthly savings - an increase in Disposable Personal Income (DPI) - are spent locally, increasing a family’s quality of life and growing the local economy. DPI spending ($6.5 Million per year) increases city revenues by 12% and state revenues by a 2:1 ratio.

A. The economics of CHERP Solar Works are driven by injecting the value of the solar energy already falling on Claremont and Pomona directly into their retail economy. Solar panels and equipment made locally will be provided as an amenity to you on a sliding scale at little (±$800) or no cost up front and no lease. Just like the road in front of your home, CHERP Solar Works energy makes Claremont and Pomona better place to lives and contributes to the local economy. CHERP Solar Works will use local labor to manufacture and install solar PV panels on your roof and connect the equipment to your electric service. Once the proper safety inspections are complete, the system will be switched on and your electric utility will decrease (on average) $860 annually (at 16¢ per kWh, 5,400 kWh per year). Studies indicate that consumers choose to spend savings locally, improving the local economy and generating sales tax. It is also well documented that reductions in utility bills raise property values. CHERP Solar Works uses local employment and, of course, the sun to inject about $6,500,000 per year into resident’s local disposable personal income (DPI). This is income that Claremont and Pomona’s residents were once forced to export out of town to buy imported electricity that is now made available to spend locally. Increased retail consumer spending is increased income to Claremont and Pomona’s businesses. In turn, these businesses grow and hire - multiplying the economic effect. CHERP Solar Works is designed to drive $29,360,000 annually into Claremont and Pomona’s local retail economy. The economy will be 12% larger permanently with continued maintenance of the infrastructure for next 25+ years.

A. Economic growth is magnified 4.5 times by containing manufacturing, installation and use to the same local economy together with targeting installation and DPI creation to Low and Moderate Income (LMI) households who will have a large Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) close to home. In a local retail economy, increased income to someone, who needs and buys goods or services, will become a merchant’s (employers’) increased income. Income to everyone who is willing to buy locally empowers the local economy to expand. This simple fact causes a local retail economy to expand many times the original increased income to the original group of consumers who were willing to spend. Expansion is limited or even reversed when money is spent outside the local economy or when money is destroyed (for example, burned for fuel). Understanding the local economic effect of changes in income and employment of consumers is of critical importance to business and especially city governments. The US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis maintains the Regional Input-output Modeling System II (RIMSII) computer model to help business and governments understand the powerful economic multiplier effects of their choices. In addition, economists and major universities study the MPC of different consumer groups (Milan, Princeton, and Sufi, University of Chicago). From RIMSII we understand the powerful economic multiplier effect of income from manufacturing and reduced energy expense. From MPC we find that LMI households spend almost every dollar of increased income close to home, powerfully growing their local retail economy while very high-income households tend to save or invest outside of their local economy (stimulating the capital economy). The combined effect is for the local retail economy to add $3.50 to every LMI $1 increase in DPI, a 4.5 times multiplier. Savings on energy bills from energy efficiency and solar directly adds to home values by at least $21,500 ($860 savings divided by a 4 percent mortgage rate), up to as much as 9 percent of the home value. It has been long established that energy cost savings are available to pay additional home loan principles and interest versus a home without a CHERP improvement (The Appraisal Journal pp. 401, Evidence of Rational Market Valuations for Home Energy Efficiency). Studies have validated that green-certified homes in California sell for up to 9% more. Local taxpayers will also benefit from solar arrays installed on municipal buildings. Money saved by the city will initially help pay for household systems, using funds that would have been paid to utility companies for electricity. Once the program is paid for, all of the energy savings are passed on to taxpayers. By keeping it local, CHERP Solar Works' construction phase generates more than 150 direct jobs, stimulating a total of over 550 jobs. For every utility dollar saved by harvesting sunlight and spent in the community, $3.50 more will be created in the business community for 25+ years, resulting in over 124 permanent, indirect retail jobs. Glass, metal, plastic, and other components manufactured in and near Claremont and Pomona will be used at your CHERP Solar Works assembly plant first, followed by those produced elsewhere in the United States. Locally sourced and manufactured products support the local economy. The CHERP Solar Works program is designed to be funded by the state as a revenue neutral infrastructure program for five years. After the first five years, the program generates a $5,600,000 state revenue surplus each year for at least the next 19 years. This creates a 2:1 ratio of output to input by the state at the 10th year. The state’s support for the program may be in the form of loan guarantees for the construction phase and grants of increased tax revenues received by the state during the first five years of operation. The construction financing is paid off with municipal PPA sales, sales of federal tax incentives, solar incentives, community participation, donations and grants of increased state tax revenue.

A. CHERP Solar Works creates both direct and indirect jobs in the city. Local workers will be trained and employed to manufacture, install, and service solar panels that are constructed using locally made materials whenever possible. These panels will then be installed on houses and/or commercial properties throughout the area at little or no charge to the property owner.

A. A plant capable of producing enough solar panels to completely equip a city of 36,000 residents in five years will occupy about 5,000 square feet of light industrial space housing about $150,000 of equipment. The equipment is standard in the solar industry. idealPV™ solar panels use 100% standard materials, processes, and procedures, and many materials, process and procedures have been eliminated altogether or simplified due to our patented technology. Each idealPV™ panel produces ~330KWh per year of its 25+ year production life. Each will cost about $160 to build (about 45 minutes to assemble). The plant will produce up to 105,000 panels a year (50 panels/hour, five days/week) or enough for about 6,000 typical SoCal households per year.

A. The CHERP Solar Works Program is designed to be funded by the state as a revenue-neutral infrastructure program for five years. After the first five years, new revenue generated by program has completely offset the cost of the original grants, plus interest, and continuing new tax revenue generates a $5,400,000 state surplus each year for at least the next 19 years. By year 10 the program will have generated $2 in new revenue for every $1 in original grants, a 2:1 return to the state. The state’s support for the program may be in the form of loan guarantees for the construction phase and grants of incremental tax revenues received by the state during the first five years of operation. The construction financing is paid off with municipal PPA sales, sales of federal tax incentives, solar incentives, community participation donations, and grants of increased state tax revenue.