Solar Panels on New Homes
The discussion
Ingrid: Every new house should be required to have solar panels on the roof. Installing them during construction costs a fraction of retrofitting later, and the owner's electricity bills drop from day one.
Carlos: I'm a surveyor, and about a third of the plots I see face the wrong way or are shaded by trees and neighbouring buildings. Forcing panels onto those roofs just adds a few thousand to the price for very little generation.
Nadia: I'd rather spend the same money on insulation and heat pumps. Cutting the energy a house needs in the first place does more for emissions than generating a bit of power on a cloudy afternoon.
Ingrid: Insulation standards already exist, and solar isn't instead of them, it's as well. Panels generate for twenty-five years, so even a poorly oriented roof pays back in time.
Carlos: If the rule allowed developers to meet a generation target in other ways, like a shared array on the best-placed roofs in the estate, I'd support it. It's the one-size-fits-all part I object to.
Nadia: A flexible target is better, and I'll admit panels and insulation aren't mutually exclusive if the budget covers both. I'd still want the regulation to require the efficiency measures first, with solar on top.
Ingrid: Efficiency first and a flexible generation target works for me, provided builders can't just opt out entirely.