Spain makes solar panels compulsory on new buildings

Spain has made it compulsory to install solar panels on all the new buildings and also on old buildings that go through renovations.

This means new homes have to be equipped with solar panels to provide between 30 and 70 percent of their hot water, depending on where the building is located and on its expected water usage.

New non-residential buildings, such as shopping centers and hospitals, now have to have photovoltaic panels to generate a proportion of their electricity.

Source

In countries like Spain and Portugal, that have around 200 sunny days each year, something like this may be a good way of reducing the energy needs of the buildings, and that is one way of start using other energy sources.

I knew there was something I loved about sunny Spain. Way to go!

Buildings going thru renovations reminds me of the scaffolding you see all over every building in Greece. As long as they are under renovation, they don't pay property taxes.

Or at least that was the way it was back in the 80's when I lived on Crete for a month and got to visit Athens for three days. Haven't passed up a souvlaki ever since.

Love to see this policy spread all over the globe. The glass panels of an earlier technology was dangerous in hurricane prone areas though. Ours had been knocked out on the housing unit we occupied in Puerto Rico and had to stay off the grass in barefeet, or stay on the sidewalk.

Not hard to do since we'd learned our lesson with fire ants--in sandals even. ouchie!

I think this is a great idea.

Including this kind of technology into building codes creates an instant market for the technology and begins to reverse our unsustainable tendencies.
.

i my self would like see this sort of thing happening everywhere there is some sun.
i think the Spanish have set a prime example to the rest of the world.

This is an excellent idea and Spain is taking a very positive step towards the future of the earth! I would like to see something like this in the U.S. Unfortunately, if it was made compulsory in the U.S., I think you would have a lot of people screaming. But it would be nice if there was a nice tax break or something along those lines.

One of these days ( *sigh* ) I hope to own a home, and I deffinately plan on having solar panels to provide some of the electricity I will be consuming.

EDIT: Spelling

[edit on 11/14/2006 by DCFusion]

Wow, I thought Spain was already doing this, either way, it's very cool.


I remember hearing that most of the countries in the civilized
world reuire all houses have solar panels to be used for there
water heaters.

Originally posted by DCFusion
This is an excellent idea and Spain is taking a very positive step towards the future of the earth! I would like to see something like this in the U.S. Unfortunately, if it was made compulsory in the U.S., I think you would have a lot of people screaming. But it would be nice if there was a nice tax break or something along those lines.

One of these days ( *sigh* ) I hope to own a home, and I deffinately plan on having solar panels to provide some of the electricity I will be consuming.

EDIT: Spelling

[edit on 11/14/2006 by DCFusion]

I don't think they would bitch as much if they just added it to the building code for all new houses and complete renovations plus tons of tax breaks for the individual living there as well. They should come up with a Consumer Carbon Trading scheme.

In my opinion there should be investments into Nuclear Fusion power technology and also solar, maybe wind and hydrogen power production. Fusion technology can provide something like 20 Mega Watts in a few seconds or something like that and it is as simple as copying the sun. Hydrogen on the other hand maybe tricky, one because it is relatively un-researched because it wont make money fast... oil and gas companies I'm looking at you... and also if placed near a city residential area it will make it so that it would constantly rain due to the water emissions from the plant... ever seen the space shuttle take off? The Hydrogen fuel used is mixed with water and as your 5th grade science teacher would tell you H and O makes water.

That of cause is all preposterously outlandish because doing something such as that would cause massive holes in the economy due to missed taxes and such from the Petroleum industry. Also no one knows how to do it and to be able to do it would take huge quantities of money further deepening the economies hole.

Originally posted by funny_pom
In my opinion there should be investments into Nuclear Fusion power technology and also solar, maybe wind and hydrogen power production.

Hydrogen Power Production is Fusion. Hydrogen Fuel Cells is merely a way to store power, not produce it. You first need to electrolyze water first in order to get Hydrogen, and storing it is another matter altogether. It's useful only in Mobile applications, which is why people want to stick em in cars. Bad Idea IMO. A better idea would be to stick 'em in Aeroscraft(a type of Zeppelin), Ships and Trucks. It would a bad idea to make huge Hydrogen Fuel Cell power plants cuz you lose 50 % of the power when you electrolyze it. It would be much easier and more efficient if you just put the energy right into the grid and have people use Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Electric Drive Flexi-Fuel hybrids. The Infrastructure doesn't need to be overhauled all that much because all you need is more abundant plugin stations which isn't nearly as costly as Hydrogen Fill-up stations.

Fusion technology can provide something like 20 Mega Watts in a few seconds or something like that and it is as simple as copying the sun.

Actually, fusion energy is very very complicated and is something like 50 years away. ITER is our only hope for Fusion energy atm.

Hydrogen on the other hand maybe tricky, one because it is relatively un-researched because it wont make money fast... oil and gas companies I'm looking at you...

Actually, the primary boosters of Hydrogen cars are the Oil, Gas and Auto companies because to them, H2 looks like a much easier commodity to control. It's all about who controls the fuel.

and also if placed near a city residential area it will make it so that it would constantly rain due to the water emissions from the plant...

Would never happen because Hydrogen will never get to that point. It's not commercially viable and most likely never will be for the Consumer transportation market(aside from Mass Transit of course). There is an easy fix to this as well. A condenser.

That of cause is all preposterously outlandish because doing something such as that would cause massive holes in the economy due to missed taxes and such from the Petroleum industry. Also no one knows how to do it and to be able to do it would take huge quantities of money further deepening the economies hole.

Ah, the Whip and Harness economic argument. It never works that way you know. When an older technology is replaced by a newer one, the (always) predicted economic collapse never materializes because it always turns out to create more jobs then it displaces. Look at the Automobile for instance. It replaced a relatively labor intensive Horse and Buggy. It put millions out of work. It didn't cause the Great Depression though, it cause an economic boom the likes of which this planet has never seen before.

Ok, I admit I was ranting somewhat in that post. Although I stick with fusion technology as a good form of energy. One day it will be in full swing. Not anytime soon though, as with most other things.

In the field of renewable energy though personal solar panels are a great idea. It reduces the demand for an individual plant to produce vast amounts of energy. It is a good side track from the view towards wind farms which are not as hot as they might seem. For instance they take up too much space and may cause some frowns from environmentalists because they may require land to be cleared, also they are unreliable, and there isn’t wind every day.
Also the same goes with Hydro Electric which causes major land destruction, the Grand Coolie for instance flooded land all the way up to the border with Canada along the Columbia River.
The new age revolves around an individual entity taking control of their own power IMO. In the form of solar, maybe a small turbine on the roof.

Spain, we salute you.

The best news in ages.

I can't say that I necessarily agree with it, BUT, I am glad spain is doing it, because it will provide an example for study.


Also, lets also remember, solar panels, they don't work half the time, you know, at nighttime? And thats when homes are using the most of their electrical energy, for lights if nothing else.

It might be interesting if they require the panels to be set up so that any excess energy they produce is also fed into the normal grid. Though I imagine that might be a logistical problem for people operating and regulating electrical flow on the grid.

SO, again, solar power brings up issues, this spanish move should be good because it will let people work through some of those issues.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Also, lets also remember, solar panels, they don't work half the time, you know, at nighttime? And thats when homes are using the most of their electrical energy, for lights if nothing else.

Batteries?

I watched a programme about building schools in Africa, and the excess power was put into a battery to be used t a later date.

Originally posted by byhiniur
Batteries?

No good. You'd need a giant battery to power a house. THis is also why solar power can't ever account for a large portion of a nation's power supply.

I watched a programme about building schools in Africa, and the excess power was put into a battery to be used t a later date.

You can do it, certainly. But a school in timbuktu probably has some pretty low electrical requirements.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Also, lets also remember, solar panels, they don't work half the time, you know, at nighttime?

They work if they are to supply hot water, and that will be the use of the solar panels on "normal" buildings.

This means new homes have to be equipped with solar panels to provide between 30 and 70 percent of their hot water, depending on where the building is located and on its expected water usage.

over here in australia there are solar water heaters everywhere. its a good, free to use system that should be used globaly.

Also, lets also remember, solar panels, they don't work half the time, you know, at nighttime? And thats when homes are using the most of their electrical energy, for lights if nothing else.

Actually you have it backwards.

Peak power usage is typically mid-day. The majority of the power drain to the system is due to things like Air Conditioning, Televisions, Washing Machines, Dryers, Microwave, Toasters, etc. Lighting up the house by comparison, only accounts for 1/3rd of the power used up by a modern household, and that is set to plummet even further with the increased adoption of Compact Dimmable Fluorescent lightbulbs and eventually LEDs(Still expensive and the color isn't right yet)

Also, the peak power usage months at least in my area is typically the June to August months due to the massive usage of Air Conditioning and in those months the peak power usage is early afternoon. Solar Water heaters as well as Voltaics would be extremely effective in reducing our overall impact.

[edit on 17-11-2006 by sardion2000]