Starting in 2020, all new homes in California must come with solar panels.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

When Irvine-based City Ventures started sticking solar panels on all of its homes six year ago, the builder emerged as a front-runner in the race toward energy-efficient home building. Soon it will be joined on the track by every developer in California.

Starting in 2020, California will become the first state in the nation to require all newly built homes to be solar-powered. And many developers are figuring out how to comply with the new rules while keeping their houses affordable.

The California Building Standards Commission approved the mandate this month, finalizing a unanimous vote from the California Energy Commission in May as part of the state's ongoing battle against climate change. The rule applies to all single-family and multifamily residences of three stories or fewer.

"Too many home builders provide these features as an add-on, but that gives buyers a complicated choice," City Ventures Chief Executive Phil Kerr said. "We felt it best to make solar power a standard part of the home, like bedrooms or countertops. Why wait until 2020?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/starting-in-2020-all-new-homes-in-california-must-come-with-solar-panels-builders-are-getting-ready/ar-BBQWYlB?li=BBnbfcN

[violetpastille]

1. Solar panels are beautiful.

This is wonderful news.

[OnlinePoker]

2. Does California have a recycling plan in place for end-of-life solar panels?

I'm sure there are a lot, even now, getting towards the end of their productive life and if nothing is done to prepare, you could see a lot of valuable material going into the waste stream instead of being processed for new panels.

[jpak]

3. But no backyard molten salt breeder reactor?

CA fruitcake and nuts

yup

[hueymahl]

4. Wonder how they are going to handle shaded lots?

The south is mostly sun and fewer trees, but in much of the north, it is heavily forested. Some homes may get almost no direct sunlight.

I like these kinds of ideas, just curious about the details.

[Raster]

5. I wish Arizona would institute something like this...

...However, in the most solar state in the country, the public utility companies (APS, SRP) have pretty much devalued solar and made it as inconsequential as possible. Part of the reason is that Arizona still has a nuclear reactor that the utilities have to pay to maintain, and whole-hearted solar adoption would negatively influence the utility companies' bottom lines.