Solar-Ready Construction

• Author: Bradley Adams
• Pages: 171-175

171Part 3: Fill Regulatory Gaps

SOLA R-READY

CONS TRUC TIO N

Bradley Adams (author)

Darcie White, Sara Bronin, & Jonathan Rosenbloom (editors)

INTRODUCTION

is ordinance requires developers to constr uct solar-ready homes and com-

mercial buildings. Homeowners and commercial property owners who want

to install solar energ y collectors on existing structures may encounter cost

prohibitive hurdles due to incompatible building and roof design, inadequate

electrical components, reduced capacity resulting from shading and orienta-

tion, and high cost of retrotting solar equipment on an existing building.1

When draft ing solar ready construction ordinances loca l governments should

consider a variety of issues, including site orientation, roof design, shading,

and mechanical speci cations, such as electrical ser vice and plumbing.2

Site orientation and shading analysis are critica l components of “passive”

solar energy collection. Passive structures are designed to maximize sunlight

for heating without the use of external equipment such as photovoltaic (PV)

or solar water heater (SWH) instruments. “Active” solar energy collection

utilizes PV and SW H apparatuses to convert sunlight into electricity or fuel

for hot water or other purposes (for a briefs on protecting solar energy sys-

tems from shading and for disputes when such shading oc curs see Limiting

O Property Shading of Solar Energ y Systems and Process to Resolve Tree

Interference with Solar Access). PV and SWH systems benet from south-

facing site orientation and protection from shading, but in order to maximize

a building’s orientation and make it more solar-ready, additional steps are

necessary in t he construction phase (for a description of the importance of

site orientation, see Site & Solar Orientation brief).

To be solar-ready, rooftops should be properly angled for the specic

location and/or sloped toward t he south, and should be able to ha ndle the

equipment weight and weather conditions after installation.3 All collateral

materials on the roof, such as vents, chimneys, and mechanical equipment,

should be grouped to reserve as much space as possible for solar collectors.4

For larger SWH systems, consideration should be given to ensuring that the