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Tiburon May Soon Mandate Solar Panels On All New Homes

TIBURON (CBS SF) - It's easy to look on the sunny side of life when you can afford to live in Tiburon. But it could soon get even a little bit more costly to call one of California's most expensive zip codes home.

"The proposal is to require solar panels for construction of all new single family homes in Tiburon," said Tiburon Planning Manager Dan Watrous.

Current homes would be exempt from the mandate, even if they undergo remodeling. The town only has between 5 and 10 new houses built each year and most of those are tear-downs of existing buildings. Realtor Lloyd Silverman says, with the high price of new homes in the area, solar panels have become standard equipment anyway.

"We have people buying $4 million tear-downs with the intent of selling 9 and 10 million dollar homes. It's a nice place to be working," joked Silverman, and agent fro Bradley Real Estate.

But while people in Tiburon may enjoy leading the solar revolution, this mandate could eventually be here for everyone.

"I think it's just our desire to have one more way of encouraging energy conservation for our homes in Tiburon," said Watrous. "We've talked to builders who feel that is where it's headed in California…that it's likely to become more of a mandate statewide."

The idea is commendable-move California toward cleaner energy. But new home prices will almost surely rise to reflect the added cost…casting an even darker shadow on people already struggling to afford a home in the Golden State.

Tiburon's council will take up the proposal at a meeting next week. The only other California town to require solar is Sebastapol, in Sonoma County.

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