California Moves Forward With Plan To Require Solar Panels On New Homes

NPR ^ | May 9, 20185:12 PM ET | Camila Domonoske

[sheana]

And that’s exactly what they’ll do. Just like their requirement that if you have a fireplace with any kind of wood stove/pellet stove in it it must be EPA compliant or rendered unusable by filling it with cement.
We have an older pellet stove in a real fireplace that will have to be removed, disposed of, and the real fireplace put back in working order if we ever decide to sell our house. It’s stupid since the pellet stove puts out much less pollutants than a real fireplace does. Idiots.

[BeauBo]

The commissars were granted regulatory power to implement health and safety requirements. They now use that power to impose economic dictates of their whims on their subjects.

All of the masses must do their part for the collective power! Obey!

[IYAS9YAS]

Except that the equipment has a working life span of about 8-10 years. And that $20,000 cost is probably financed by the solar company with a 30-year lien on the property at 6% annual interest.

Nope. Paid cash for the system. No liens, it's his free and clear. Not sure what his warranty is. He's had the system for two years now, and electric rates have gone up considerably in those two years, with further increases being pushed by the utility constantly.

[flamberge]

I have (and paid for completely) solar panels with a 25yr guaranteed life.

Sounds like you did very well.

"paid for completely" is the smartest way to buy a solar panel installation. Some deals like that seem to have a positive return-on-investment. It is the hidden financing costs that can put things underwater.

Again, however, the expected useful life of solar panels appears to be 8-10 years, and that is what should be included in the planning basis. A 25-year "guarantee" means absolutely nothing. None of these companies will be around in 5-10 years.

[IYAS9YAS]

How much money will he have to spend keeping the panels operating? And at what point will they have to be replaced?

I think he said 25-year operating life. Not sure on quality and expected life-span.

We currently have refrigerated air (versus a swamp cooler), and I'd almost rather go back to a swamp cooler, as that is what the house originally had, and cutting electricity costs by half, easily. The crap part is they are roof-mounted, and don't work well at cooling the house during our monsoon season, which also corresponds to the hottest part of the year here.

[xzins]

Require?

Thanks for pricing normal people out of housing

[blam]

"Basic life gets more expensive thanks to gov reg. Roi on solar for single family homes never pays off."

Yup.

My first thought. My son's four houses in LA county just went up in price/value.

[Wuli]

If we had proper judges across the judiciary, this could be challenged as a form of “taking” of property without even the limited benefit of the demands of eminent domain.

The state is mandating that owners and builders put in solar panels to meet a political demand of the state, forcing an unnecessary cost on builders, homeowners AND the electric grid suppliers, as they, the grid suppliers, will be required, in California to pay retail for any electricity brought to the grid by the solar panels. The grid will also acquire infrastructure costs for handling all the additional residential solar generated input.

[Wuli]

So exist5ing homes will become even more pricey, more in demand, and the pricey newer homes that will have more legally mandated costs, will further squeeze out citizens looking for “affordable” housing.

Maybe the sneaky California Dims are trying to make California too costly for the very “immigrants” they are so fond of defending, hoping they will “migrate” out of California??

[Morpheus2009]

Do they even notice all the fecal matter on the roads? Guess they fly over to their mansions in helicopters or whatnot.

[oxcart]

I think I’ll call my 401K advisor tomorrow. See what he thinks about investing in long distance moving companies based in California.

[gigster]

REAL HEADLINE: California Moves Forward with Plan to require Sun to shine 24 Hours Per Day.

[minnesota_bound]

The state is lying again as solar panels do not cost $9,365
On KABC radio this morning the host was talking to another and they had both priced solar and agreed the cost was $30,000 to $40,000. The host has a 2,000sq/ft home.

Kinda like the high speed rail cost and the speed. All lies.

[Zhang Fei]

“On KABC radio this morning the host was talking to another and they had both priced solar and agreed the cost was $30,000 to $40,000. The host has a 2,000sq/ft home.”

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I think solar doesn’t work out financially because the initial investment is pretty high relative to the savings (which is related to cost of traditional fossil fuel and nuclear power). And the end value for a solar panel installation is not zero, but negative, because you have to pay for the panels to be removed, or put up with unsightly non-functional panels permanently on display. Whereas other home renovations like remodeled kitchens or swimming pools usually have some positive end value.

[minnesota_bound]

The state subsidizes solar as it does not pay otherwise to use. Sounds great in theory but too expensive in practice.
That is one of the reasons the electric rates are so high in Calif, around .18/kw vs 6 to 9 cents most everywhere else. The other reason is to pay for the pensions.

[ridesthemiles]

Wait until everyone sees the surcharge for re-engineering those homes we all see in the magazines.

[ridesthemiles]

And at what point will they have to be replaced?””

When the first earthquake hits OR the first big wind-hail storm.