Solar Readiness Bill

sc4mayor · PostDec 24, 2019#12019-12-24T19:56+00:00

Now city law: New buildings must be 'solar ready'
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headline

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson on Monday signed legislation mandating that new construction in the city be designed to facilitate installation of rooftop solar panels.

"As Mayor, I want people to know that this administration is taking the climate crisis seriously and meeting its challenges head-on, especially at the local level," Krewson said in a statement. "That includes signing this historic solar readiness bill, which reflects that commitment."

Trololzilla · PostDec 25, 2019#22019-12-25T08:07+00:00

Long past due that this became a law. Glad to see Krewson sign this.

bwcrow1s · PostDec 26, 2019#32019-12-26T13:39+00:00

It'd be great if we could get all of the garage owners to plop panels on top. BJC's was a great use of relatively single use real estate.

flipz · PostDec 26, 2019#42019-12-26T15:28+00:00

A bit worried that this will increase construction costs with minimal results.

MattnSTL · PostDec 27, 2019#52019-12-27T20:33+00:00

flipz wrote: ↑
Dec 26, 2019
A bit worried that this will increase construction costs with minimal results.

If all it means is having a conduit in the wall up to the roof and space by the breaker panel for an inverter it won't mean much to construction cost. If it's more than that it could. I haven't seen yet what "solar ready" actually means.

chaifetz10 · PostDec 28, 2019#62019-12-28T01:41+00:00

Does this include rehabs as well, or just actual new construction?

urbanitas · PostDec 28, 2019#72019-12-28T02:20+00:00

Officials added that engineering a building to be solar ready is "easier and less expensive during the design phase of a project, as compared to retrofitting an existing structure."

lol The same could also be said of a rooftop swimming pool...

PostDec 28, 2019#82019-12-28T02:27+00:00

chaifetz10 wrote: ↑
Dec 28, 2019
Does this include rehabs as well, or just actual new construction?

The article says new construction. Other questions are how do they reconcile this with historic neighborhood guidelines, affordable home construction, and other new construction where solar panels are not desirable, can't be accommodated efficiently, or aren't justified economically?

MattnSTL · PostDec 28, 2019#92019-12-28T17:08+00:00

^ I was talking with someone at Rise about this a couple weeks ago. They're trying to figure out what it means for their costs to develop affordable housing. Again, if it's just the basics it's not that big of a deal, but in places like local historic districts that say panels cannot be visible it could have a real impact to build now in a way that the panels are hidden even if they never get installed.

Trololzilla · PostDec 29, 2019#102019-12-29T08:47+00:00

Perhaps the language of the bill should be amended to be a little more specific with regards to affordable housing development and the requirements of historic district development, etc.

Assuming the language doesn't already account for those kinds of things, of course.