In January 2020, California became the first state to require all new houses to be built with solar panels. Today, Environment America is launching a first-of-its-kind campaign calling on additional states across the country to set similar standards for solar power on new homes. The coordinated national campaign will advocate for a solar homes requirement in at least 10 states: Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. While each state may have slightly different goals, the campaign’s intention is to introduce bills in 10 states in the next two years.
“For a generation facing the threat of climate change, the new American Dream is not ‘a car in every garage,’ it’s ‘a panel on every roof,’” said Susan Rakov, chair of Environment America’s Clean Energy program. “Power from the sun is a gift from the environment, protecting our health from dirtier power options and giving us a shot at leaving our kids a better world. We have the technology to build every new building in our communities with clean, renewable energy. So let’s do it. ”
Installing solar panels on all new homes from 2020 to 2026 would result in more solar energy capacity than the entire United States currently has installed. A solar homes requirement would cut an estimated 161 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2045. That’s the equivalent of taking more than 34 million of today’s cars off of the road.
Solar panels also create ‘neighbor effects’ — the more people see them, the more they want them.
“We cannot miss the opportunity to generate the renewable energy that comes with powering every new home with solar,” said Bronte Payne, Environment America’s Go Solar campaign director. “The most efficient time to install solar panels is when the builders are on the roof in the first place. The results lead to healthier communities for years to come.”
News item from Environment America
I think it’s a good plan in theory but where you’re going to run into problems is with say the state of Minnesota. In Minnesota installing any part of a solar system is an electrician’s job. So you are going to have issues with the roofers claiming that the part that connects to the roof is their job. But then you’ll have the electricians claiming that it is their job. Who is the one that wins in this deal? The other issue is that if you’re trying to put shingles on a roof before it rains or say snows in the state of Minnesota and the solar installer is behind schedule who is going to install the rack support so that the roof can be installed? I do realize that being an electrician myself there are construction calendars that have to be followed and worked with. I think that having a house built with the addition of solar being easier should definitely be a requirement. The other problem is that most electrical grids in the state of Minnesota cannot handle solar installed on every home. Granted in a new housing development this would be designed into the grid however if you were to go into a neighborhood say that had been wiped out by a tornado all of the new homes built would have to have solar. The electrical grid may not be able to handle all of that new power. You may argue the fact that we would have new power lines installed but that is not the entire grid. The grid goes all the way back to the generator. The transfer stations and the transformer stations are part of that grid. Some of those are too old and too small to be able to handle solar power feeding back into them.