In California, the towns of Lancaster and Sebastopol have become the first 2 towns in the United States to mandate solar panels for new buildings, Earth Techling has reported.
Lancaster is situated on the edge of the sunny Mojave Desert to the north of L.A., and Sebastopol is about 400 miles away, close to Napa and Sonoma. Although Lancaster is a conservative town, and Sebastopol is more of a liberal enclave, the mayors of both towns maintain that the moves are in the interests of addressing climate change. There was apparently “no pushback” to speak of when the new requirements were proposed.
Previously, solar mandates in California and Arizona have only required that new dwellings be “solar ready”, or in the case of Colorado and New Jersey, to just “offer the option” of being solar ready to owners when building new homes. Being solar ready does not at all require the installation of solar panels.
Lancaster has a population of 150,000 and Sesbastopol is a smaller town of 7,400. Now that the ball is rolling, do you think this solar mandate could spread to other, perhaps larger, towns and cities across the country?
Image: Solar Lancaster
Via Earth Techling
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