Should the Government Help You Buy a Solar Panel?

"In the Great Depression, Roosevelt started home loans for people because you couldn't buy a house unless you had a lot of cash to put down," Supkis says. FHA loans closed much of the gap between the rich and the poor, making it possible for most Americans to own their own homes.

Supkis is campaigning for the federal government to create a solar energy program based on the FHA format. The program would initially be funded by the government, with perhaps about $100 billion in "seed" money. That money would be loaned to people who want to install solar cells on their homes or businesses, and it would be paid back, with interest, on a schedule based on the income of the applicant.

The payments would be "recycled" as loans to new applicants, thus producing a self-sustaining system.

"It needs to be self perpetuating," she adds.

Good Idea, But...

One way to make it palatable would be to make the payments the same as the applicant pays for electricity through the local utility. And if the system produces more electricity than the home owner needs, the excess could be sold to the utility.