Solar Panels Will Likely Be Mandatory on New California Homes (plastics, boiler)
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I lived in NM for a while. The place is bathed in intense sun light so much so that you can't escape from it. All homes have flat roofs and yet I didn't see a single solar installation on any of them. Why is that? It's like having to make a law to force people wear coats in Alaska.
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Originally Posted by HappyRider
False. Solar panels are hard to hide. In fact, that's their number one problem. Nobody wants ugly boxes raised on their roofs.
If the area’s utility company doesn’t have a good for the consumer net metering program then many PV systems don’t pencil out as easily to justify their cost, especially if the home owners may not remain in their house for several years. We have roughly the highest electricity rates in the nation and also some of the most generous net metering programs so for us it’s pretty easy to calculate your ROI time period to help make the decision. Our modest sized yet 100% offset system we installed a couple of years ago will equal our total electricity charges we otherwise would be paying in less than five years, then it’s a couple of decades for basically free electricity with a modest, around $50/year service charge.
I’ll agree that the panels aren’t the best looking, some systems are better arranged or have less noticeable panels than others. I made sure the installer held up a box about the size and angle of a panel on my beautiful 90 y.o.Spanish Revival with a combination of flat and tiled roofs to ensure they are completely hidden by the parapet.
Black outs and brown outs must be a local/power company problem. When hurricane Irma went through last year, our lights blinked twice and then stayed on.
I suspect the difference in population might have something to do with that. California has twice the population of Florida, so California is likely using twice as much electricity. California has to import more electricity than any other state in America.
I haven’t read the legislation but it does include either removing or at least greatly reducing that mandate on new homes that would not have a good solar PV potential because of shading (including existing trees) or size of the roof.
So let me guess, you will need to first fill out form XYZ that is incomprehensible, 50 pages long and has a $500 filing fee. This will get you permit so you can perform a site study that will cost you 2 grand which can only be performed by state sanctioned companies. Once the study is complete you can file a request to have the solar enforcement officer visit your site to examine it for himself and make sure the site study was done properly, that's another $500. Of course it will take him six months to show up and IF he signs off on it you can build without solar, if not you're out $3K... Sound about right?
Solar power is never going to be able to run ac on hot days. imho, if they want to get serious about global warming and the size of peoples carbon footprint, I have some suggestions instead of solar panels.
1.Set a size limit on new houses. Say 400 or 500 sq ft. per person.
2.No grass lawns allowed.
3.All personal vehicles must get 30 mpg combined highway and city.
Solar power is never going to be able to run ac on hot days. imho, if they want to get serious about global warming and the size of peoples carbon footprint, I have some suggestions instead of solar panels.
1.Set a size limit on new houses. Say 400 or 500 sq ft. per person.
2.No grass lawns allowed.
3.All personal vehicles must get 30 mpg combined highway and city.
Solar power easily carries the AC load at a townhouse I know of in Washington, DC. Of course having an electrical engineering degree helps in understanding.
1.Set a size limit on new houses. Say 400 or 500 sq ft. per person.
2.No grass lawns allowed.
3.All personal vehicles must get 30 mpg combined highway and city.
Interesting. You may want to improve your "housing plan" by reading this. All details have been worked out. Energy consumption has been dealt with too and it's eerily similar to "smart meters"
In the Soviet Union, housing in cities belonged to the government. It was distributed by municipal authorities or by government departments based on an established number of square meters per person. As a rule, tenants had no choice in the housing they were offered. Rent and payment for communal services like water and electricity did not form a significant part of a family's budget.
Solar power easily carries the AC load at a townhouse I know of in Washington, DC. Of course having an electrical engineering degree helps in understanding.
It only takes a 4th grader to do the math:
-a 4kW system getting 5 hrs of good sun a day generates 20kW-hr of juice. The average American AC (24,000BTU) system uses 318W x 24 hr= 7.6kW-hr---about 1/3 of the power generated that day.
The problem comes in areas other than the sunbelt where 5 hrs of sun a day is a rarity and grid power is also much cheaper.
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