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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

The state's Energy Commission is expected to approve new energy standards that would require solar panels on the roofs of nearly all new homes, condos and apartment buildings from 2020 onward. There will be exemptions for homes that either can't fit solar panels or would be blocked by taller buildings or trees, but you'll otherwise have to go green if your property is brand new.

(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: braking; california; construction; housing; solar
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To: BeauBo

Great news for China, where most solar panels used in the U.S. are made. Bad news for new home buyers due to even higher than current astronomical housing costs.


41 posted on 05/07/2018 10:05:01 AM PDT by Bernard Marx
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To: oldbrowser
“I wonder if these regulators might have some scam to enrich themselves from this regulation?”

Why wonder? Of course someone is going to get rich(er). Doesn't Elon Musk have solar technology, and isn't his company California based? I wouldn't doubt for a second that he is involved in this behind the scenes. He's been an expert at getting government (and thus taxpayers) to subsidize his business ventures. I'm not saying it's just him, but undoubtedly there are business interests pushing this.

42 posted on 05/07/2018 10:05:10 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: BeauBo

Roofing companies and remodelers love rooftop solar panels. They are revenue drivers for them because of all the leaks and wind damage.


43 posted on 05/07/2018 10:05:11 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: mvonfr
"Grossly insufficient. All new homes should have windmills on the roofs, at least 1000 feet high."

All subjects of the regime should be commanded to do their part for the common good as well - mandatory contributions to the electric grid for everyone!


44 posted on 05/07/2018 10:07:31 AM PDT by BeauBo
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To: BeauBo

Will the solar panels be mandated to work?

When O was pushing them so hard and throwing money around many fly by night solar companies sprang up. Often they produced less than half the power promised and many completely failed. The companies evaporated and on many government buildings the taxpayers were left holding the bag.


45 posted on 05/07/2018 10:09:45 AM PDT by Tammy8 (Please be a regular supporter of Free Republic !)
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To: BeauBo

Somebody has to pay for the power that is generated but not needed. That means the cost for electricity will go up.

They want people out of single family homes into high density compounds where the people are more easily controlled and monitored.


46 posted on 05/07/2018 10:13:15 AM PDT by alternatives? (Why have an army if there are no borders?)
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To: BeauBo
> It might help out in scenarios where the electric grid goes down though, like big earthquakes.

Nope.

Unfortunately, unless the homeowner *ALSO* invests in a battery bank and an independent-power inverter, it won't help a bit. Nearly all solar panels going into grid-connected buildings these days are "grid intertie inverter" systems, meaning the grid has to be up and running for the panels to do their job. The panels add power -to- the grid; they do not supply power independently to the building.

If you're off-grid (as I am), you need a battery bank and independent inverter, not just a "grid intertie" inverter. That kind of independent stand-alone system is generally used in a grid-connected building for times like earthquakes or grid failures (think hospitals). But most homeowners don't want to spend the additional capital to become independent.

Grid-intertied panels are just a way for the utility to add more power to the grid. Nothing wrong with that, per se, but it has nothing to do with independence.

47 posted on 05/07/2018 10:13:55 AM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: FLT-bird
Will they require solar panels for all the tents bums live in?

Only brand-new tents, and only if they're not blocked from the sun by trees or large buildings.
48 posted on 05/07/2018 10:17:37 AM PDT by sonjay
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To: laplata

“Liberal politicians getting kickbacks would be my guess.

><

I’d bet on it”

Big winners Politicians, Home Builders, AND Solar Companies.
Speaking of Solar Companies. Whom is the biggest player? Solar City. Who owns Solar City? Elon Musk. Who’s Car Company is bleeding red ink to the tune of 700 million $ in just the last three months? Elon Musk’s Tesla. I can only repeat what I have heard, in that Elon pulls profits from Solar City to help keep afloat Telsa? If true who is the biggest winner of this Kali Solar Panel Mandate? Sure enough Elon Musk.


49 posted on 05/07/2018 10:21:15 AM PDT by DAC21
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To: Paradox

That’s exactly what the Market Watch article says. Victor Davis Hanson has been observing that for quite a few years because the family farm is in Selma, CA and he works at the Hoover Institution in Palo Alto.


50 posted on 05/07/2018 10:24:13 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: BeauBo

and electric companies will raise their rates to make up for loss of business...idiots


51 posted on 05/07/2018 10:26:27 AM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: BeauBo

and electric companies will raise their rates to make up for loss of business...idiots


52 posted on 05/07/2018 10:26:28 AM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: rktman
Just saw this at American Thinker:

Good article. In the article it says that the new regulations will add an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 to the cost of constructing a new house but that after 25 years it will “save the owners” $50,000 to $60,000. The author points out that this is a horrible return on the “investment”.

But it is much worse than that. With any type of “Green” product the projected “savings” are ALWAYS several times what the actual “savings” will be. First the expected lifetime of the product is greatly exaggerated. How many CFL light bulbs have we been coerced into buying by government regulation claiming that they would save several times what they cost during their ten year expected lifetime only to have them fail within a few months. I have a pile of them because you can't just throw them in the trash.

Second, the projected cost of energy in the future is typically expected in the projections to increase exponentially. This may or may not be accurate. It is hard to know when the next “fracking” type innovation will hit the electrical energy market. But it is likely that new electrical energy generation technologies will begin to pan out in the not so distant future.

Third, the rated output of solar panels are typically several times greater than the actual output. One would think that this would be factored in to the regulators calculations, but when it comes to solar power they most likely are not. Many if not most solar energy projects produce typically 30% of what the projections predicted.

I know several people who live “off the grid” and the solar cell component of their systems have all vastly underperformed what my friends initially calculated that they were going to get based on rated capacities. And these are people who mostly had engineering backgrounds.

We live in an outlying area where the power goes out several times a year typically for a day or two but sometimes a week or more. But we are very fortunate that we have natural gas piped to our home. So we have a generator that I converted to natural gas using a flange with a venturi that I designed and printed on our 3D Printer. I keep very precise records using a couple very precise watt meters and the gas meter to measure our consumption of natural gas vs our production of electricity.

This data has allowed me to calculate what the realistic costs of producing our own electricity and compare this to what it would cost for other power generation options such as solar. In our location solar and wind are just laughable compared to just having the generator to natural gas. We would have to cover half an acre with solar cells and maintain a bank of expensive storage batteries to match the generator's output. And even then as my friends who live “off the grid” have discovered you still need a backup generator to keep your batteries charged depending on conditions.

53 posted on 05/07/2018 10:26:46 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: fireman15

I have enough room on the south side of our property to put in an array but I think the ROI would be prohibitive in my case at this point. Not to mention the battery issue. I would NEVER put one on the roof.


54 posted on 05/07/2018 10:30:28 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Egad. That chart is brutal. Even worse than Iexpected.


55 posted on 05/07/2018 10:36:19 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (End the Mueller Gestapo now.)
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To: laplata

Everything Liberal politicians do is to further their back pocket graft. And, to be fair, many RINOs to which there are many. Only a handful of Republicans are honest and trustworthy, IMO. All politicians live and breathe personal power and all-consuming personal greed.


56 posted on 05/07/2018 10:37:04 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: BeauBo

Are we to see acres of solar panels and multiple windmills at the mansions of the Hollywood elite and especially at Al Gore’s palace by the sea? I doubt the hypocrites would spoil their view with such clutter.


57 posted on 05/07/2018 10:47:47 AM PDT by The Great RJ ("Socialists are happy until they run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher)
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To: palmer
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.

The devil is always in the details.

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.

This is the type of calculation that my “off the grid” friends have found is not accurate... at least up here in the great northwest... typically by a factor of 3 or more. And “off the grid” folks are not able to get $.15 per kwh. They can only keep their storage batteries topped off. Any additional power generated is just dumped (wasted).

I had a life lesson in this when I was young. I worked for 8 years lumber remanufacturing mill owned by my family. A machine would be procured that would make $.o3 per lineal foot and run at 100 feet per minute. So the calculation would be made $.03 x 100fpm x 8hrs x 60min = $1440 per day. Unfortunately, even if enough work was found to keep the machine running all the time... with labor costs, all the support machinery required, the lease payment, and the fact that it was lucky if during an 8 hour day you were lucky to get even a third of the projected output things never worked any where near what was initially calculated.

58 posted on 05/07/2018 10:48:03 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: PGR88
Dead Kennedy Prophecy from 1978!

Sadly, Jello Biafra has recanted and lovingly embraced Brown...

59 posted on 05/07/2018 10:59:43 AM PDT by no-s (when democracy is displaced by tyranny, the armed citizen still gets to vote...)
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To: BeauBo

Solar is a good option for specific purposes, like a small light or a fan. It’s stupid and wasteful for full grid operations.

A company I used to work for supplied a product to a solar manufacturer. I spent a good deal of time at their plants in US and Mexico. The plants were large with lots of roof space. Take a wild guess how much solar they used in manufacturing? You’d be right when you said Zero


60 posted on 05/07/2018 11:09:05 AM PDT by cyclotic ( WeÂ’re the first ones taxed, the last ones considered and the first ones punished)
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