Happy Earth Day!
Every year, millions of people worldwide show their support for environmental protection on April 22.
How it started
In the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day to force environmental issues onto the national agenda. Twenty million Americans demonstrated across various U.S. cities, and it worked!
In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a new federal agency to address environmental issues.
Before the EPA, no legal or regulatory mechanisms existed to protect our environment. There was no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act, and no Endangered Species Act.
Since then, Earth Days have focused on recycling efforts, clean water, voter registration, climate action, building a green economy, and clean energy…to name a few.
Taking action
At Accela, we want to contribute to clean energy by accelerating solar installations. Scaling solar requires considering a fundamental process that is often overlooked: permitting. Paper-based bureaucracies using outdated permitting processes increase the price of residential installations and slow nationwide solar adoption.
This Earth Day, it’s worth discussing how we approach solar permitting to make it cheaper and faster, help our communities be more resilient, and take an essential step toward meeting environmental goals.
We’re committed to adapting our cloud solutions to market trends. Accela has partnered the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to encourage widespread adoption of the Solar Automation Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) amongst Authorities Having Jurisdiction to simplify the solar permitting process.
The Accela Building SolarAPP+ add-on makes a difference by eliminating solar permitting bottlenecks and delivering quick turnarounds for applications, plan reviews/approvals, and solar inspections.
Looking ahead
Agencies nationwide are increasingly looking for ways to speed up solar permitting to support local jobs, drive economic growth, and protect the environment. This innovative SaaS solution improves efficiency, increases citizen engagement, and builds thriving and resilient communities.
Check out this dedicated list of solar resources to learn more about the opportunities to unify the Civic Platform to SolarAPP+, save your staff time, and make a difference with clean energy.
