Skip to main content

California is requiring solar panels on all new houses: here’s what that means

More expensive houses for now, but maybe cheaper in the long run



California has become the first state to require that new homes be built with solar panels. The rules go into place in 2020 and are part of the state’s ambitious efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But these requirements also make it more expensive to build in a state where housing is already extremely expensive.
The new building rules approved by the California Energy Commission apply to all residential buildings up to three stories high (including both single-family buildings and condos). They’ll no doubt help California reach its goal of having at least half of electricity come from renewable energy by 2030. Solar is already responsible for about 16 percent of California electricity.
But the new regulations mean that houses will be $8,000 to $12,000 more expensive, according to The New York Times. That’s especially fraught in a state where the median price of a single-family home is nearly $565,000, according the California Association of Realtors. Habitat for Humanity development director Laine Himmelmann told CNN affiliate KRCA that the regulations would require the nonprofit to raise $80,000 to $100,000 more a year in donations. (And, two years ago, Vox’s Brad Plumer argued that boosting housing density would be even more green than requiring solar panels.)
For residents, at least, the raise could even out in the long run, Energy Commission spokeswoman Amber Beck told the Los Angeles Times. Though buyers could see their monthly mortgage go up by $40, their utility bills would fall by $80. Over time, a family would save $19,000 of today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation, over 30 years, according to Beck.
California is already the nation’s leader when it comes to solar energy, thanks to friendly public policy and plenty of sun. Last year, it released a report that outlined its climate change goals: these included reducing greenhouse gases by 40 percent from 1990 levels, by the year 2030. “This is another step forward and acknowledges that this should be the standard for a sustainable home,” says Anne Hoskins, chief policy officer of Sunrun, the nation’s largest residential solar installation company.
Hoskins noted that, though California remains the company’s largest customer, in recent years the company has expanded into states like Wisconsin and Illinois. “Are we expecting that every state is going to require the same of all new homes immediately? No,” she says. “But I think with this example from California, policymakers across the country can see that these new homes can be efficient and cost-effective, so it’s going to be an example that will be used as a model in other states.”

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Secret Science 02:The 30 Most Disturbing Human Experiments in History

Disturbing human experiments aren’t something the average person thinks too much about. Rather, the progress achieved in the last 150 years of human history is an accomplishment we’re reminded of almost daily. Achievements made in fields like biomedicine and psychology mean that we no longer need to worry about things like deadly diseases or masturbation as a form of insanity. For better or worse, we have developed more effective ways to gather information, treat skin abnormalities, and even kill each other. But what we are not constantly reminded of are the human lives that have been damaged or lost in the name of this progress. The following is a list of the 30 most disturbing human experiments in history. 30. The Tearoom Sex Study Sociologist Laud Humphreys often wondered about the men who commit impersonal sexual acts with one another in public restrooms. He wondered why “tearoom sex” — fellatio in public restrooms — led to the majority of homosexual arrests in ...
1 comment
Read more

The Strange and Stranger Case of Wyndham Lathem

A Northwestern University plague researcher has been charged with a brutal murder. Here’s what we know about him. WIKIMEDIA,  TONY WEBSTER O n July 27,  The  Chicago Tribune   reported that there was an arrest warrant issued for  Wyndham Lathem , a microbiologist at Northwestern University. The crime Lathem would later be charged with was brutal—26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, whose body was found in Lathem’s apartment, had been stabbed dozens of times. But Lathem was nowhere to be found. As events unfolded over the following days, it became clear he had fled from Chicago to California with a second suspect, 56-year-old Andrew Warren, a University of Oxford employee from the United Kingdom visiting the states. Along the way, the two men apparently made an anonymous $1,000 donation in Cornell-Duranleau’s name to the Lake Geneva Public Library and another donation for $5,610 to a Chicago health center. Lathem had also sent a video to fa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan’s tsunami warning system worked well in today’s major earthquake

The quake was an aftershock of the massive 2011 temblor USGS At 5:59AM local time  Tuesday morning, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook the east coast of Japan. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings and evacuation orders soon after the quake hit, warning of possible 10-foot waves. The quake may have been responsible for an issue at a local nuclear power plant where a pump responsible for cooling fuel rods shut down. Japanese authorities  lifted the tsunami warnings  at 9:45AM local time, around four hours after the shaking started. Prefectures along the country’s Pacific coast had been given tsunami advisory indicators, but a stronger tsunami warning was issued to Fukushima prefecture — one of the regions devastated by the magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami that caused the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. EVEN SMALL TSUNAMIS CAN GENERATE DANGEROUS CURRENTS Earthquakes that occur underwater   can caus...
Post a Comment
Read more