California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes

For seven years, a handful of homebuilders offered solar as an optional item to buyers willing to pay extra to go green.

Workers for SunPower Corp. install solar panels
on the roofs new houses at KB Home’s Terramore
 development in Riverside County. Solar systems
 like these will become standard by 2020 on virtually
all new California homes under a proposed new energy
code up for review in Sacramento on May 9. 

Now, California is on the verge of making solar standard on virtually every new home built in the Golden State.

The California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday, May 9, on new energy standards mandating most new homes have solar panels starting in 2020.

If approved as expected, solar installations on new homes will skyrocket.

Just 15 percent to 20 percent of new single-family homes built include solar, according to Bob Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry Association.

Read the story by Jeff Collins from The Orange County Register - “California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes.”