Another significant U.S city is making solar mandatory on new residential and commercial buildings.
The Santa Monica City Council voted last month to require all new residential and commercial construction to incorporate solar panels – and the ordinance takes effect in just a couple of weeks’ time.
Single family dwellings will be required to install a minimum 1.5 watts per square foot. A 2,000 square foot home (smaller than the average new Australian home) would need to install a minimum 3 kilowatt system.
Multi-family dwellings, commercial buildings, hotels and motels will need to install 2 watts per square foot of building footprint.
“In Santa Monica we are moving away from buildings powered by fossil fuels in favor of clean and cost-effective solar energy,” said Dean Kubani, Santa Monica’s Sustainability Manager, last month “This is not only the smart thing to do, it is also imperative if we are to protect our kids and grandkids from the worst effects of climate change.”
Legislation was also recently passed in San Francisco requiring solar panels on all new residential and commercial buildings; but the rules won’t apply to new building applications until January 1, 2017.
While no major Australian city has yet made solar panels compulsory, a couple of areas have done so; including the new Canberra suburb of Denman Prospect and the City of Nedlands in Perth
Santa Monica is in western Los Angeles County, California and is considered one of the most environmentally activist municipalities in the nation.
The majority of the city’s public works vehicles run on alternative fuels and the city has made major inroads in cutting greenhouse emissions.
Santa Monica has set a goal of energy self-sufficiency by 2020, to be achieved by integrating energy efficiency and solar in most of the city’s buildings. It has also set a target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
Last October, California’s Governor signed legislation committing the state to generating half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
California owes much of its solar progress to a previous Governor, Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger. In 2011, Mr. Schwarzenegger was named Renewable Energy Leader Of The Decade. While he may no longer be Governor, his passion renewables and climate change action remains.
