Why New Jersey's balcony solar bill is a huge deal for renters

https://www.cnn.com/climate/new-jersey-balcony-solar-renters

by breve • 17 days ago

20 10 17 days ago

Unfortunately, the article makes no mention of (approx) how many rental units there are in NJ. A step further would be, of those, how many have balconies. And finally, how many face south (or close).

I live in Central NJ. This bill certainly can’t hurt. But is the impact significant? Anecdotally, it doesn’t feel that way. The (new) governor still has a campaign promise to fulfill.

undersuit2• 17 days ago

They are called balcony solar but you don't need a balcony, that's just convenient. You just need an outlet and sun.

chiefalchemist3• 17 days ago

So people are just going to hang them out windows? Perhaps many stories up? What about severe weather? I wonder how long before you’ll need a license to install one of these?

That aside, thanks for filling me in. We’ll have to see how it goes

ticulatedspline• 17 days ago

I'm curious if these systems form a net positive. The cost of a thing provides a pretty reasonable proxy as a summation of the energy put into it's creation. The implication being that a balcony solar system is probably roughly net-negative, environmentally speaking, until it reaches its ROI.

I wonder if enough of these systems reach return to cover all the ones that don't for some reason or another. Looks like ROI might be 3-7 years, at the high end seems probable people would maybe move and not be able to use them and never really get their money's worth out of it.

testing22321• 17 days ago

at the high end seems probable people would maybe move and not be able to use them and never really get their money's worth out of it.

The whole point is that these plug-in like a hairdryer. Zero installation.

If you move, you take it with you.

If you move to a place they are not permitted, sell it before you leave.

ZeroGravitas• 17 days ago

This isn't a huge deal except in aggregate.

For individual renters (or homeowners) it's a small outlay that repays itself over a few years and then saves a small amount of money.

It's relatively boring and that's good.

Why New Jersey's balcony solar bill is a huge deal for renters

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