Counties are blocking wind and solar across the US
Counties are blocking wind and solar across the US
Local governments across the U.S. are blocking new clean energy plants. See the best locations for wind and solar power, and where it's being stopped.
Counties are blocking wind and solar across the US::Local governments across the U.S. are blocking new clean energy plants. See the best locations for wind and solar power, and where it's being stopped.
The inability to install solar panels on my home is enshrined in my HOA and is extremely unlikely to be overturned by our members. We should be passing laws making these types of restrictions illegal
There's a story on Reddit about someone who snuck an extension cable onto the HOA president's property and had it running something like an air conditioner full blast nonstop for months. They later said something to the effect of "oh yes, prices are going up but my friend who lives in the other city has solar and he's fine". This apparently convinced the person to change the bylaws.
Wait... Aren't you guys supposed to be the free-est nation on earth or something?
HOAs were literally created to make sure that black people couldn't buy homes. These covenants put legal blocks on the deed for eternity to keep it from happening. It didn't take long for white people to buy a house and then turn around and sell it to a black family. The entire thing crashed. What we are left with are small Karens and Chads trying to control the people around them.
They are free to die without healthcare
It was an Irishman that wrote "free to screw you before you screw me".
Colorado House Bill 21-1229 is law here now, maybe your state can pass a bill like it too?
Where I’m from, laws were changed so communities like this can’t block lot modifications that improve a lot’s sustainability performance (e.g. rooftop solar, rainwater harvesting, etc.). Not that anyone here would block rooftop solar, it’s wildly popular.
We should be passing laws making
these types of restrictionsHOAs illegalFTFY
America, home of the not free to do what you like with your own house.
I suspect that more states will follow WA and CA and start saying that counties and cities no longer can block things like denser housing, extra units on a lot, or solar.
Find an HOA with conservative leadership and you’ll find all sorts of bs. Worse when they weren’t like that when you bought, but have turned into a MAGA idiot and reject anything green on principle.
Yes. And some states (e.g. Washington) already have.
The governing documents may not prohibit the installation of a solar energy panel by an owner or resident on the owner's or resident's property [...]
Some states do have those laws already
Would that be Republican controlled counties?
With VT and CT on the list, it seems like a NIMBY issue.
I live in uber-blue NW Oregon and even my county banned solar farms because they claim it's wasting our fertile soil that can be used for factory farming instead. The county is controlled by douchy Republicans though
Democrats are better
Odds are that they are Republican counties because wind and solar tend to be built in rural areas and rural areas tend to be Republican. I would actually expect Democrat held areas to also oppose them because people in general are NIMBY.
That said, there are a bunch of valid reasons to oppose large scale projects that can be addressed. A primary problem is the disruption to the local area, either by destroying roads not designed for the heavy machinery or the government taking land from locals that is necessary to implement the project. Both could be handled differently than they tend to be as the large companies that implement these projects tend to not care about locals already living in the area. Some ways they could improve the process would be to improve the roads and offer better compensation for affected locals, but there are valid reasons that some retired person who lives in the home they grew up in to oppose a power plant even if it would be a net benefit to society.
That is to say it is complicated and the best that can be done is better treatment of the people that are impacted by these projects while understanding that some are just complaining to complain and some really do have valid complaints that need to be better addressed so progress can be made.
I’ve lived in left leaning areas for decades. Solar is everywhere, from rooftops to open fields. We don’t have a ton of wind, but there’s a lot of offshore farms and quite a few in the hills. Nobody is “taking” land, it’s sold by the landowner.
If right wing areas are blocking renewables it’s far more likely to be done so it props up the fossil fuel/power generation companies and has little or nothing to do with any actual drawbacks of renewables or their installation.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, I'm pretty sure you're correct.
From reading more about the blocked installs here, most of them have to do with the distance between wind turbines and nearby property lines. Many states are passing laws that the turbine has to be far enough away from property lines that it can't fall onto someone else's property, which seems reasonable. However these restrictions make building turbines difficult and limits what land is viable. Many counties require 1.1x to 1.5x the height of the turbine as a safety distance, which with the typical turbine height of 600' means 660-900 ft radius around the tower that doesn't overlap someone else's property. Some counties have really high distance requirements, that go up to 1320' (a quarter mile) or farther.
The other concern is sound levels, with some counties limiting how loud the turbines can be to nearby properties.
Solar has less restrictions than wind, places with restrictions on it seem to just be limiting the max solar farm size. I'm not sure what the purpose behind that limitation is.
I feel like we always do things exactly the opposite of whatever rational would be.
"These people aren't using the land to it's full potential so we're justified in murdering them and taking the land." - About the people living half naked off the land.
"You can't just make people move, even if you compensate them and are doing it for the greater good." - About the people who drive a pickup truck to Walmart.
I know there's more nuance, it's just funny to me.
We need more coal mines the children yearn for the mines
builds character!
Yo dawg. I heard you like your miners to be minors..
The mines have cute little canaries in them so they’ll get to play with little pets
I'm not sure if it wasn't clear, but THE PLANET IS DYING.
The planet itself will survive this easily, the inhabitants on the other hand...
Yep, this is what I tell people....the planet will recover just fine...but just after it's killed pretty much everything off and started over.
And the solution is to kill pristine nature?
Build more nuclear power, ffs
Maybe some of these things (at least rooftop solar, but maybe not wind turbines) ought to be guaranteed by right on a Federal basis, kind of like how the FTC prevents local governments from stopping people from putting up antennas.
The biggest barrier to consumer renewable energy is price (and it has gone down considerably already.) Big projects ensures more development, which can lead to even lower prices.
With the state of the US power grid, we need more big renewable projects everywhere. Better subsidies on home renewables to take stress off the grid. The sooner the better !
We are really fucking bad at this
I know what they mean, but the headline makes it sound like they're building a big-ass dome across the US, to block out the sun and wind entirely.
Some of these guys believe the earth is literally under a dome already. They also seem to think that wind farms are a global conspiracy to turn them gay or something.
Blacken the sky!
Can we do that over the parts of the country still using coal?
Their interactive map says mostly the Midwest.
The Simpsons already did this bit.
I live in SE NC. Duke energy has incentives for solar and they are about to pay for the installation of my Tesla charger in my garage.... It's not all bad I guess..