A San Francisco city councilor will propose a new regulation that could soon mandate solar panels on most new construction in the city and on many existing apartment buildings.
David Chiu, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, says he will introduce the resolution to require all new buildings include solar panels, rooftop gardens, or both. The rule would apply to commercial and residential buildings alike, wherever feasible.
Chiu says some skyscrapers with rooftop mechanical systems may not have the space for PVs and that many single-family dwellings would not be suitable even if the owners could afford them. Chiu’s Solar Vision 2020 proposal would curb the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and boost the thriving local solar industry.
It would make permanent an existing city program that gives homeowners, businesses, and nonprofit groups money to defray the cost of installing solar arrays. It would also establish a goal of roughly doubling the amount of solar electricity generated in the city, from 26 megawatts today to 50 megawatts in 2020. The director of the urban development group Housing Action Coalition warned that the program could boost construction costs in a city with a shortage of affordable housing.
(http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Proposed-S-F-law-would-put-a-solar-panel-on-5827997.php)
Related Stories
| Jul 5, 2012
Veterans Administration threatens to pull contract on new Orlando medical center
The Veterans Administration asked contractor Brasfield & Gorrie to get more workers on the job and figure out a way to get the job done faster, or the VA would pull the contract on the much-delayed Orlando VA Medical Center.
| Jul 5, 2012
Cost to contractors for new federal hiring quotas much higher than estimated, AGC says
Administration officials significantly underestimated the cost to construction employers of proposed new hiring quotas for federal contractors, according to analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America.
| Jul 5, 2012
Roof membrane could have prevented roof parking deck collapse, specialist says
The collapse of a section of a roof parking deck at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake in Ontario, Canada could have been prevented if the structure had a membrane, according to a concrete expert and specialist in structure analysis at McMaster University.
| Jul 5, 2012
New Joplin, Mo. hospital being built to withstand tornado that destroyed predecessor
After the May 22, 2011, EF-5 tornado destroyed St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., architects and engineers analyzed how the nine-story structure reacted to the storm.
| Jul 5, 2012
Continued tax breaks necessary for widespread adoption of net zero buildings
Tax breaks passed by the U.S. government to encourage construction of green buildings are set to expire in 2012 and 2013.
| Jun 28, 2012
Six buildings now recognized under Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge (LBC), a green ratings system for design and construction that judges a building based on its actual performance, not just its projected performance at the design stage, has recognized six buildings to date.
| Jun 28, 2012
Label for building products will have ‘global warming number’
The director of the 2030 Challenge for Products says that the organization is aiming to place a label on building products that will list what’s in it, and how much embodied carbon each product represents.
| Jun 28, 2012
Top building material executive urges building resilience in sustainability standards
A meeting of 1,000 business executives at the recent Rio+20 environmental conference featured a passionate plea to include building resilience in efforts to boost sustainability.