Solar panels atop a house in Riverside, CA (photo attribution: Jim Sun, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Community Solar Garden or Solar Farm of Clean Energy Collective at Cowdery Meadow Community Solar Gardens (attribution: Susan Sun Nunamaker, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Visitors at a Westmill Solar Cooperative Open Day at Westmill Solar Park (attribution: MrRenewables, Westmill Solar Cooperative, Ben Cavanna, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
Today, California has become the first U.S. state to require solar panels on nearly all new homes and low-rise apartment buildings, starting in 2020. The California Energy Commission voted 5 to 0 to approve the new building standard/requirement that residential buildings up to three stories, including single-family homes and condos, be built with solar panels installations starting in 2020. About 117,000 new single-family homes and 48,000 multi-family units will be built in 2020. The commission endorsed this requirement after building representatives, utilities, and solar manufacturers and advocates voiced their support. It still needs the final approval from California’s Building Standards Commission (which usually adopts the energy panels’s recommendations when updating the state’s building codes). This is California’s latest step to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The technical director for the California Building Industry AssociationRobert Raymer called it a “quantum leap.”This requirement would only be applied to newly constructed homes, although many homeowners are choosing to install rooftop solar panels with help from various rebate programs. The California Energy Commission estimated that adding solar panels would boost construction costs by $9,500 for a single-family home but save homeowners about $19,000 in energy cost and other expenses over 30 year period. The price of solar has dropped dramatically in recent years, therefore, it is a no-brainer that it is cost effective for all homeowners to install solar. The amount of solar power required by the new standards is minimal and not enough to meet all the energy needs of most homes, therefore, most homes would still have to draw some of their power use from the power grid.
The regulations exempts solar panels installations when it is not cost-effective or feasible (such as for homes shrouded in shade). Community solar generation would be an option for such circumstances.
According to SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association), California is already the nation’s leader in solar installation, with more than 5 million homes in the state using solar power. California has set the goal of all residential buildings being “zero net energy”, meaning producing as much energy as they consume. California has positioned itself as the leader for clean energy in USA, pushing more electric vehicles on the roads and lower emissions from homes and commercial buildings.
California Energy Commissioner Andrew McAllister said, “This is a step, a very important step, in a long trajectory that we have been planning for and telling the world….This is not a radical departure. It’s a step in the right direction to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and improve our air, which for many, many decades California has been doing better and better each time.”
Perhaps it is high time for rest of the 49 states to also follow the California lead, for it is both economical and environmentally friendly for homeowners to install solar.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
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Dear Friends & Readers, one of you emailed me and asked this question, below:
Maybe you have some business ideas for my brother. He knows the building and architecture business. Knows all materials and specifications for big buildings as well as little houses. He has been a salesman for building products, has been a specifications writer for big projects, overseen buildings for architects and builders, hospitals, convention center, office buildings. He can’t find work here now. He needs to get into the new Solar energy business….
Dear C,
For your brother, since he has so much experience and connections in building industry, I would recommend setting up a business in “Energy Efficiency Auditing” and/or “Solar Installation”, helping home owners and businesses to find different ways to reduce the amount of energy used: be it in installing attic fans, changing light bulb to compact flourescent bulbs, using light color (white) for roof (where it is allowed), changing to tankless hot water heater, using solar hot water heater, using solar energy to heat pools, using solar lights/lamps in the yard, etc. He may even be able to get government subsidies to start a company involved in energy efficiency or solar energy. If he needs more information, I would suggest going to my http://sunisthefuture.net and find the April 18, 2011, post on Incentive For Solar (2) for links and US Dept. of Energy SunShot Initiative (if he may be interested in researches) Contact people at DC and DOE’s Solar America Communities program and April 24, 2011, post on Incentive For Solar (4)-For Consumers for individual states’ listing of solar incentives. You/he can get to this post by clicking the orange link at left or going to the Archives in the right margin of http://sunisthefuture.net, click on April 2011, then click on 24 under April 2011. Read this post (April 24, 2011 post of http://sunisthefuture.net)and listen to the video clip EERE Program Overview. Then click on the orange link to find out more information about where the subsidies for consumers (for different parts of the US) are because with better understanding of where the consumers’ subsidies will be coming from, your brother will be better equipped to appreciate where the potential clients’ needs will be. Call and learn about what and how he may be able to get started in energy industry. Once he is more clear about what exactly he wants to do, then he can start publicizing for his business via internet (I recommend WordPress to set up a web site), Facebook, twitter, and various social networking strategies. It is important to be clear about what his goal is. He needs to learn as much about energy industry as possible. If he visits http://sunisthefuture.net , it is free. My Jan. 10, 2012 post at http://sunisthefuture.net also mentioned an online institute, Solar Living Institute, that has various online courses and training programs if your brother is interested (this would cost something) . In addition to government subsidy, there is a private lending organization call Kiva (I have also written about this organization in Jan. 1, 24, 25, 2012 posts of http://sunisthefuture.net ;Jan. 1, 2012 post ;Jan. 24, post; Jan. 25, 2012 post). Kiva will help legitimate green businesses to get started by lending/microfinancing. So I would recommend that your brother try to learn as much as he possibly can about energy efficiency and solar energy before deciding on what direction will be most suitable for him. Be sure to write out a business plan before approaching U.S. Department of Energy and Kiva for monetary help. There is no guarantee in life, but knowledge is power and better organization and planning ahead is always a good idea before starting on any project. Perhaps he may not even need any outside assistance to get started.
Best to any of your future endeavors and please let me know if you should have any other questions.
I also welcome ( via sunisthefuture@gmail.com ) any of you out there who would like to help C’s brother out with any additional comments, suggestions, or business ideas . I am in the process of setting up an extension of http://sunisthefuture.net that will allow more of you to participate in the forum format in the near future.
Be well,
~have a bright and sunny day~
written & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
