San Francisco will soon begin requiring new buildings to have solar panels installed on the roof.
It’s the first major U.S. city to have such a requirement, according to Scott Weiner, the city supervisor who introduced the bill.
The ordinance, which was passed unanimously by the city’s Board of Supervisors, builds on an existing California law requiring new buildings to set aside 15 percent of the roof as “solar ready” — clear and unshaded. That law applies to residential and commercial buildings 10 stories or shorter.
Now, instead of just preparing the roof for solar panels, such buildings would need to actually install some form of solar energy — either electricity-generating panels or solar heating units.
It’s a step toward San Francisco’s goal of meeting the city’s electrical demands with 100 percent renewable energy, Wiener notes in his statement.
The solar generating potential here is the South Bay of Los Angeles is much greater than in San Francisco and we hope our South Bay Clean Power cities will each consider a similar smart mandate.