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This week’s guest, Panama Bartholomy gave The Real Story some ideas about how soon Californians are going to be seeing big changes in building around the state. As soon as 2011, homebuilders will be required to offer solar panels as a standard feature or as an upgrade—and the state is starting to work on programs to make that change attractive to the homebuilding community.
When you think about it, compliance is going to change not just the way homes are built but quite literally, the way they are planned and sited—solar roofs aren’t efficient on the north side of homes. So how are land planners going to respond? How practical is it going to be, to orient entire neighborhoods for maximum sun exposure? Are land developers going to offset the need for their builder/clients to install solar roofs by developing solar parks or fields within the master plan for their new communities?
Also in the making—by 2020, all new homes in California will be required to meet a Zero Net Energy Standard. That means zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions for all new residences—quite a leap from installing solar panels by 2011. And by 2030, all commercial buildings will be held to the same Zero Net Energy Standard.
The exciting part of the process is that the Energy Commission is open to the public’s input. Public meetings and webinars add to the transparency of their process. For a list of upcoming meetings, go to: http://www.energy.ca.gov.
