Solar Energy is Your Right!

California’s solar leadership began in 1976 when the first financial incentive for solar energy was introduced through the tax code. (Interestingly enough, it was Ben Franklin who, after establishing the American constitution, said that nothing is certain except death and taxes!) It’s almost appropriate that the first writing to promote solar energy was squeezed into tax code. Two years later, the California Solar Rights Act of 1978 granted solar access rights all California citizens to promote the adoption of solar energy in the state and clarify the regulatory needs of solar system owners with everyone else.

The Act became enforceable in January of 1979. So it's actually been a part of the legal conversation for a while. But there are only a few instances when the act was called into court to settle a solar-related dispute because very few solar homeowners are willing to go through a court battle to have a simple installation done. This is yet another reason why the act simply being more understood is so important. No one will have to go to court to have it enforced; everyone should just know! But the courts had to interpret the Solar Rights Act because there's a clause that states a possible "reasonable restriction" to the installation. When a resident went to install a system, the Homeowner’s Association thought the installation was not aesthetically pleasing; they proceeded to try and stop the installation. Can you believe that? The final result was that the courts determined aesthetics are not a good enough reason to deny a renewable energy installation. Score another point for renewable energy!

Boots on the Roof would like to thank the University of San Diego School of Law’s Energy Policy Initiative Center for their thorough research on the topic!

Fact or Fiction: Turbine Bird Death

Wind energy!  Clean, renewable, economical. One of the perceived problems with wind energy and more pointedly with wind turbines, is their affect on bird mortality. Unfortunately, this issue has been exaggerated greatly. It's not that wind turbines may add to bird mortality, it's a matter of how much, or rather how many. Occasionally a bird may be lost to the whirling rotor of a wind turbine; it is an extremely rare event. How rare, you ask?

Statistical studies from a variety of sources show that wind turbines account for very few bird deaths annually. In fact, cats and windows in buildings account for the greatest number of bird fatalities per year here in the United States. Don't believe us? Check out Focus on Energy's research on the topic.

So please be informative and educate your friends, neighbors and potential wind energy naysayers with the facts about the danger birds face from domestic cats, windows, tall buildings, autos, telecommunication towers and pesticides and the very low risk wind turbines present to birds.