“Even Al Gore had to fight to put solar panels on the roof of his house,” and Toronto Treehugger Lloyd Alter is of the opinion that we should remove stupid “restrictions and covenants limiting the installation of solar hot water and photovoltaic systems from housing.” 8 states now have “solar rights” laws that prevent restrictions by lower levels of government on solar power installations.

Building Integrated Photo Volatic System
Installing new solar roofing modules made by Sharp, like the PowerGuard rooftop system from PowerLight, the photo voltaic panels are integrated into the roof tiles, which then can be snapped onto an existing roof without puncturing its surface.

There are all kinds of zoning bylaws, condo rules, homeowners associations and even building code rules that make it harder to go green. In Arizona, with 300 days of sun per year, they just passed legislation to prevent homeowners associations from stopping solar panel installation. Illinois state Democratic Rep. Karen May, a sponsor of a “solar rights bill” says “If you’re going to have local governments and condo associations saying, ‘Solar panels are ugly,’ that’s a real stumbling block.”

While a consumer’s rooftop photo voltaic panels are her / his castle, more important is the bottom line resisted by some utility companies. Net metering programs give photovoltaic system owners a credit for the electricity they deliver to the grid. This credit is used to offset electricity provided from the grid when the photovoltaic system cannot meet demand. According to Wikipedia (2008-May-12), “New Jersey/and Colorado are widely considered to have the best net-metering policies in the United States as both have no limit on enrollment (less than 2MW each), roll over month to month and pay annually for excess generation at avoided-cost rate.”

Grid Tie
A grid tie is implicit in the building of most zero-energy homes, i.e., the home owner is reimbursed for surplus electricity fed into the grid. The same is true for other net-zero, carbon-neutral buildings.

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