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SolarCity will give Airbnb hosts $1,000 for installing solar panels

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The partnership is going after millennials

Homeowners thinking about going solar already have plenty of subsidies to look into, including a 30 percent tax credit in effect till 2023. But now, with a new partnership between homeshare site Airbnb and leading solar energy provider SolarCity, there’s one more incentive to consider.

Through the deal announced Tuesday, SolarCity will offer $1,000 cash back to Airbnb hosts who install solar energy systems using its services. As for Airbnb’s end of the deal, the company will give new and existing SolarCity customers a $100 travel credit if they sign up to be Airbnb hosts. The initiative will run through March 2017, after which the SolarCity part of the promotion will drop to $750.

At the crux of the deal is the hope that doubling down on Airbnb’s “environmentally-friendly” image (a report by Cleantech Group estimates by choosing Airbnb over traditional hotels, guests reduced water consumption by 4.2 billion liters and waste by 37,000 metric tons last year) will court the people who really care about sustainability (ahem, millennials.)

While a grand in cash can seem like chump change when compared to the total, pre-subsidy cost of installing solar systems (which typically runs over $20,000), the promotion is certainly worth a thought for homeowners interested in both services.

Via: Inhabitat, Fortune