California is set to become the first US state to make solar panels mandatory on most newly built homes.
The state’s Energy Commission is due to vote next week on new energy standards that would require virtually all new homes to be constructed with solar panels from 2020.
Currently around 20 per cent of single-family homes are constructed with solar capacity built in, but if the new standards are approved as expected this proportion will rise sharply.
“California is about to take a quantum leap in energy standards,” Bob Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry Association, told The Mercury News.
“No other state in the nation mandates solar, and we are about to take that leap.”
Read more: Independent