Sammy_Roth t1_j7vvga8 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 7:50 PM

Reply to comment by openly_gray in I’m Sammy Roth, an L.A. Times reporter trying to figure out where to put all the solar and wind farms we'll need to fight climate change. Is farmland the answer? AMA! by losangelestimes

The more rooftop solar gets built, definitely, the fewer land-use conflicts and the less destruction of wildlife habitat. But will also caution that every detailed study I've seen still finds a huge need for large solar and wind farms to meet climate goals, even in very optimistic scenarios for rooftop solar. See, for instance: https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-01-07/how-rooftop-solar-could-save-americans-473-billion-dollars-boiling-point.

Will have more discussion of this very question in the next part of Repowering the West. Feel free to follow along here: https://www.latimes.com/projects/repowering-the-west/.

Thank you for the question!

Crabby_Monkey t1_j7w8awm wrote on February 9, 2023 at 9:08 PM

In your opinion, in places like Arizona would it help to require new home builds to automatically include solar and home batteries.

It seems like that would have several benefits.

Sammy_Roth t1_j7w8zgd wrote on February 9, 2023 at 9:12 PM

California has actually done this! See L.A. Times coverage from a few years ago: https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-panels-20180509-story.html.

I don't know if this has gotten serious consideration in Arizona, but definitely other local governments looking at the concept. Thank you for the good question!

openly_gray t1_j7vwtq9 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 7:58 PM

Thanks