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CA requires solar panels

mtlogcabin

mtlogcabin

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While there was little doubt it would happen, it's now a done deal: California will require solar panels on most new homes. Officials at a December 5th Building Standards Commission meeting have voted for the new code, providing the last bit of approval necessary for the policy to take effect. New homes, condos and low-rise apartments will need eco-friendly power generation on their rooftops from January 1st, 2020 onward. The only exclusions are for homes that are either blocked by taller objects (like trees and tall buildings) or don't have room for panels.

The building code is the first of its kind in the US, and may serve as a bellwether for the rest of the country. Critics are concerned this will further raise housing prices in a state where they're already a sore point and might only offer limited energy savings. Proponents, however, estimate the technology could ultimately save homeowners money (as much as $60,000 over a 25-year lifespan). It could also lower the overall strain on the electrical grid, especially at peak hours.

Just how many states follow suit is another matter. Even if you don't factor in different states' politics, there's the simple problem of differing climates. It's easy to require solar panels in southern states where there's little to no snow, but the energy savings in northern regions are a tougher sell. Differing housing costs and energy rates could also influence decisions. You might only see a handful of states (if any) follow California's lead, no matter how successful this requirement might be.
 
mtlogcabin said:
The only exclusions are for homes that are either blocked by taller objects (like trees and tall buildings) or don't have room for panels.
Click to expand...

Every builder in Cali ought to get real good at building fake dormers, if that's a legit exemption to this nonsense.
 
Maybe once the child is born and viable then one of the parents should be executed to save some emissions
 
As roof coverings wear out the worn out PV panels will end up in a landfill.
 
conarb said:
The last I heard they can't figure what to do with them, they can't put them into the landfills since they are full of toxic metals.
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Perhaps we can send them back to China.
 
Last edited:
ICE said:
As roof coverings wear out the worn out PV panels will end up in a landfill.
Click to expand...
https://news.energysage.com/recycling-solar-panels-in-2018/
Many of the core components of solar panels can be recycled on their own.
Metal, glass, and wiring can all be recycled and reused.
Silicon cells, the component that is most essential to producing electricity, are a slightly different story.
Silicon wafers are not recyclable like glass and plastic are, some specialty recycling companies are able to reuse silicon cells by melting them down and reclaiming the silicon and various metals.
The difficulty with recycling solar panels isn’t that the materials they are made from are hard to recycle; rather, it’s that they are constructed from many parts all used together in one product.
Separating those materials and recycling them each in a unique way is a complex and potentially expensive process.
 
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