The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed legislation to require new construction that is shorter than 10 floors to install solar panels or solar water heaters on top of new residential and commercial buildings.
Currently, California law requires all new buildings with 10 floors or less to have at least 15% of their rooftops designated as solar ready, in other words, not in the shade. The new San Francisco law makes it the first major US city to mandate solar panels on new construction. A few smaller California communities have already adopted solar mandates.
The new rules go into effect January 1, 2017. One city legislator has introduced a bill that would allow people to add a living roof like a garden instead of installing PVs.
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New NRCA photovoltaic roof systems guidelines released
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Bayview Property Managers agrees to record $800,000 building code fine
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Glass ‘biodome’ helps Parkview Green FangCaoDi project in Beijing achieve LEED Platinum
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| Jul 19, 2012
UMass-Boston's Bevington: 'Financing alternatives crucial to energy-efficiency upgrades'
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| Jul 19, 2012
NYC eases building code to create ‘micro apartments’ in Kips Bay
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