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California to require solar panels on most new homes
Engadget ^ | 6 May 2018 | Jon Fingas

Posted on 05/07/2018 8:53:14 AM PDT by BeauBo

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To: BeauBo

Just saw this at American Thinker:

It is an article of faith in the media that California has a “housing crisis” owing to the very high cost of homes, especially in the coastal urban areas, where most of California’s residents live. Yet the state is now adding an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 to the cost of constructing a new house in order to gratify the virtue-signaling impulses of green extremists.

Jon Fingas of Engadget (via Yahoo Finance) explains:

Link to article:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/california_to_make_housing_even_more_expensive_to_virtue_signal_for_greenies.html


21 posted on 05/07/2018 9:12:20 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: BeauBo

“...Interesting that this will be mandated by un-elected regulators, rather than legislators....”

Another typical move by our Marxist Sacramento Democrat government. Taking more control as usual. And they will tax it somehow as well. More Marxist intrusion.

Power, control and MONEY. It is all they do for the state, not the people.


22 posted on 05/07/2018 9:13:28 AM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: BeauBo

yeah, and about that California housing “crisis”, with its scarcity of available housing ...


23 posted on 05/07/2018 9:15:43 AM PDT by catnipman ((Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!))
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To: jaydubya2
Solar panels are so good they have to force everybody to use them?

Exactly! If they were a good use of people's money the government would not need to require them. People would be lining up to buy them. Even with perfect site conditions in extremely sunny areas few if any installations will produce enough power to recoup the amount of money that it costs to purchase and install them during their expected useful life.

They are only really useful to people who live “off the grid” in remote locations. And then it is necessary to have battery and generator backup systems in place which adds additional expense and complexity.

We were in an Ikea store a couple weeks ago in the rainy Seattle area. They had a big mural advertising that they had installed a huge number of solar panels on the roof of their building. It was suppose to demonstrate how “green” and forward thinking the company and how they are working to "save the planet" from "global warming" etc... Obviously in a large corporation like that someone has run the numbers and knows that the project will only be worthwhile with government subsidies and expected positive PR. But they are just pushing the narrative to the sheeple because they believe that is what the sheeple want. It is a weird form of circular thinking.

24 posted on 05/07/2018 9:22:52 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: BeauBo
...require solar panels on the roofs of nearly all new homes, condos and apartment buildings from 2020 onward...

How much longer until the fascists demand solar panels on every house sold?

25 posted on 05/07/2018 9:23:33 AM PDT by broken_clock (Go Trump!)
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To: No Socialist

I looked into solar power here—until I found out that it had to be connected to the grid and so would be useless during power outages.

What a joke.


26 posted on 05/07/2018 9:24:46 AM PDT by cgbg (Hidden behind the social justice warrior mask is corruption and sexual deviance.)
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To: BeauBo

And CA will tax the electricity they produce because the sun belongs to CA.


27 posted on 05/07/2018 9:27:34 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: BeauBo

Hey what’s an extra 40 grand on a 2 million dollar bungalow?


28 posted on 05/07/2018 9:29:20 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: BeauBo
Welcome to the Socialist Republic of Californi-zuela. Going the way of all socialists as fast as we can.
29 posted on 05/07/2018 9:31:08 AM PDT by Missouri gal
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To: BeauBo

This goes quite the opposite direction, of need for “affordable housing.”


30 posted on 05/07/2018 9:32:23 AM PDT by truth_seeker ( \/**|_|**\/)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

In a couple of generations, there will only be Rich, and the Poor, in California. The Mexification of CA will be complete.


31 posted on 05/07/2018 9:33:55 AM PDT by Paradox (Don't call them mainstream, there is nothing mainstream about the MSM.)
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To: fireman15
"Even with perfect site conditions in extremely sunny areas few if any installations will produce enough power to recoup the amount of money that it costs to purchase and install them during their expected useful life."

In California, on average, a 1 kW panel will produce 4.5 kWh of energy per day. Assuming an installed cost of $1 per Watt, and being paid 15 cents per kWh, solar panels will pay for themselves in 1000/(4.5*0.15) = 1481 days or a little over 4 years.

One assumption is that the panels have a good south-facing orientation, which won't be the case when they are mandatory. The second consideration is that everyone gets 15 cents for the solar power because of net metering, even if the power is not needed by the grid. That can't continue if everyone produces power because backup power will become too expensive.

32 posted on 05/07/2018 9:38:28 AM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: BeauBo

It is important to stress than of all electronic devices, solar power panels (PV solar cells) are particularly likely to be instantly and totally destroyed by any EMP attack. This is because of the basic physics of the semiconductor that is at the heart of the “photovoltaic” device.

As such it is very foolish to rely on PV solar for any more than an small percent of our power needs.


33 posted on 05/07/2018 9:39:35 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: BeauBo

Big, expensive mandates in a place where the growing unaffordability of housing is a #1 issue.

What could go wrong?


34 posted on 05/07/2018 9:41:18 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: cgbg

“I found out that it had to be connected to the grid and so would be useless during power outages”

Being connected to the grid should not prevent you from using them during grid power outages.

It would allow you to sell some unused excess power back during daylight hours, which are typically the peak demand hours (people running air conditioners, businesses at work, etc.). The reason regulators want lots of household solar panels connected, is because it reduces the need for some peak generating capacity (and some backup generation in case of outages).

It is a relatively marginal extra cost when getting solar panels installed (which might well be subsidized), and only a marginal benefit to grid capacity/resilience (unless it is done on a very wide scale). I don’t know if it is the most cost effective approach, but those are the arguments for requiring it.


35 posted on 05/07/2018 9:43:50 AM PDT by BeauBo
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To: theBuckwheat

“solar power panels (PV solar cells) are particularly likely to be instantly and totally destroyed by any EMP attack.”

Important strategic consideration.

I wonder if there is any way to mitigate that vulnerability?

Isolating components modularly? Grounding, bonding or shielding components? Installing in a way to allow easy/rapid replacement with spares? I doubt that any approaches would be attractive based on cost, but as costs drop, or for critical applications, some EMP/solar flare protections might grow in importance over time.


36 posted on 05/07/2018 9:53:35 AM PDT by BeauBo
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To: BeauBo
Grossly insufficient. :(

All new homes should have windmills on the roofs, at least 1000 feet high. Multiple occupancy units must have multiple windmills.

37 posted on 05/07/2018 9:58:40 AM PDT by mvonfr
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To: BeauBo

I wonder if this applies to a flipped house?


38 posted on 05/07/2018 9:59:10 AM PDT by golas1964
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To: spokeshave2

We live that here. I counted days this winter that the big solar farms were covered in snow, a full 3 months.


39 posted on 05/07/2018 10:00:09 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: ExTexasRedhead

Liberal politicians getting kickbacks would be my guess.

><

I’d bet on it.


40 posted on 05/07/2018 10:01:12 AM PDT by laplata (Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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