SRSLY? 1.5kW, not enough to make any real contribution to the total power requiremnet, it's just required to be annoying.
Posted on 03/10/2013 9:01:26 AM PDT by Professional Engineer
Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California, wants every new home in his city to host solar. And starting next January, that could be a reality.
Yesterday in Lancaster, homebuilder KB Home celebrated its 1,000th new home with solar panels from SunPower. Speaking at the event, Mayor Parris announced his city will institute a first-of-its-kind requirement that solar be installed on every new single-family home built in Lancaster after January 1, 2014.
The new law will be written into Lancaster’s “Residential Zones Update” on residential solar. Along with a range of green building provisions, it specifies that new single family homes meet minimum solar system requirements.
“The purpose of the solar energy system standards,” it reads, “is to encourage investment in solar energy on all parcels in the city, while providing guidelines for the installation of those systems that are consistent with the architectural and building standards of the City.” It is further intended “to provide standards and procedures for builders of new homes to install solar energy systems in an effort to achieve greater usage of alternative energy.”
Residential homes on lots from 7,000 square feet must have a solar system of 1.0 kilowatt to 1.5 kilowatts. Rural residential homes of up to 100,000 square feet must have a system of at least 1.5 kilowatts.
The standards spell out simple, common-sense rules for both roof-mounted and ground-mounted systems. They also deal with some interesting issues:
A builder’s model home must show the kind of solar system the builder will offer. Builders of subdivisions will be able to aggregate the houses’ requirements. If ten houses in a subdivision each have a 1.0 kilowatt requirement, the builder can install a single 10-kilowatt system, two 5-kilowatt systems or four 2.5 kilowatt systems. If a housing tract is built in phases, each phase must meet the requirement. Multi-family developments can meet the requirement with a rooftop system or a system on a support or shade structure.
Finally, builders “may choose to meet the solar energy generation requirement off-site by providing evidence of purchasing solar energy credits from another solar-generating development located within the City.”
Mayor Parris, who frequently promises to make Lancaster “the solar energy capital of the world,” expressed confidence that he has the City Council votes for approval, despite resistance from the building industry.
“I understand the building industry is not happy with this,” Parris said. “We will just have to take the heat. I could not do that without a City Council -- made up of people who want a political career -- with the courage to take that heat.”
The building industry should understand “that we work with them, not for them," he said. "They are not in a hurry to disrupt our partnership. Opposition would disrupt it.”
Even with resistance from some members of the building community, the market is shifting.
“There are a rapidly increasing number of solar homes being built,” said Matt Brost, SunPower's national director for new home sales. “One of every five built in California this year will be solar powered.”
Along with partnering with KB Home, SunPower has worked with other major home builders like Lennar Homes, Richmond American Homes, and Standard Pacific Homes.
Mayor Parris, a Republican, noted that Lancaster is “one of the most conservative Republican districts in the country. But Republicans are smart,” he said. “When you show them a solution, they will take it.”
Tags: green building, home builder, lancaster, california, residential solar, rooftop solar, solar energy system, solar home, sunpower
Not to worry. New cars aren’t affordable by the middle class. The middle class can take all the money it’s saving by not buying cars and buy premium refrigerator boxes.
And when the home doesn’t use as much power as the city thinks it should be using they’ll add a special tax to make up the difference of lost taxes on electrical bills.
Effective protest (index sized) palmcard. On the face (REVERSE SIDE)or below the slogan you can put the name of the candidate you favor and the election dates...EXCELLENT FOR SLIPPING UNDER WINDSHIELD WIPERS ON CARS PARKED IN KEY PARKING LOTS CHURCHES, RALLY SITES....
DEMO-COMS AND RINO CRYERS
GOD DENIERS AND PREDACIOUS LIARS
ARE REDISTRIBUTE WEALTH INCITERS/
FIRST YOUR MONEY THEN YOUR GUNS
ISSUING DECREES OF MANY COME
DEMAND SURRENDERING CHOICES ONE BY ONE
INTO REGIMENTATION YOU MUST RUN
AND NOW THEIR ROBOT YOU’VE BECOME
It’s time to get government out of Our faces
Our religions and and Our pocketbooks
Snicker, sounds about right, surrounded by the lush green Mohave Desert.
At noon on a bright sunny day. Sheesh.
I wonder if there's any requirement to maintain these worthless defacements? I can see an after market of solar de-installers. It's like an AOL or ASK.com toolbar that you have to pry off your computer. As soon as the residents move in they rent one of those driveway trash receptacles and head over to Home Depot to get crow bars to pry them off with.
....let's all sing......"Look for, the union label"....
how about just a law forbiding local cosmetic ordinaces ala small sat. dishes.
I wonder if they are mandating grid tie also. My system is just under 1.0 kW (off grid) and, with a bank of several batteries, is just enough to run the primary electronics in the house and somewhat marginal in the winter.
Pretty scarey that the liberal scum want to invade every faction of our lives, not just on California but, everywhere.
We need a revolution...
I would agree...figure huge boom this year...maybe a quarter of this year’s homes will be built next year.
Solar makes sense in a very limited way. You need to live in a region that has 250 days of sunshine, and you need to expect only minimum pay-back (maybe enough power to run your lights).
My humble guess is that five years in the future....some folks will be building homes with very cheap solar panels that probably don’t work....but mostly for the city requirement and show. That’s it. They might even be fake panels put in abundance for several years...until the city figures out the fake routine.
What's the problem, are some homeowners not allowing the sun to shine on their houses?
1.5 KW is respectable and would run my house most of the time. One could not comfortably live off grid on 1.5 KW but it would keep the lights on, computer running and maybe power a small refrigerator too. But at what costs? At $4/watt that 1.5wk costs you $6,000.00 plus you only get that 1.5kw during daylight when it is nice outside. Also the system will degrade over time and have to be replaced in 15 or 20 years. All in all Solar is not yet a good investment for those of us watching our pennies.
Rex”Bloomberg” Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, California, wants every new home in his city to host solar. And starting next January, that could be a reality. There fixed it, enough said.
lol
so basically the state wants to force people to use technology that doesn’t really work, is expensive to maintain and will dramatically increase the cost of a new home?
Good freaking grief!!! that GOD I don’t live in New York or California!!!!
WHY do the people in those two states put up with this!!???
who wants to be told what to do all the time!?!??!
How about adding a woodchip gasifier generator? Got chips?
With all of the solar companies that are and have folded, it looks like cheap low quality ones from China will be all that are available. Could this be a move to bail out a US supplier?
SRSLY? 1.5kW, not enough to make any real contribution to the total power requiremnet, it's just required to be annoying.
This is liberal “How to Start a Successful Business 101”
Lancaster is a dump of a town. This will only make it dumpier...
However, it ought to make Palmdale and Rosamond boom!
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