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Write to City Council members and Mayor Arreguin! Demand that they protect solar access, especially for rooftop solar panels. Send e-mail by noon, Monday Oct 11 to: council@cityofberkeley.info ; and copy to: clerk@cityofberkeley.info 

Background:  

Berkeley is required by State law to plan for 9,000 new housing units in the next eight years.  

In Berkeley, where most lots are small - increased density, without common sense guidelines – will result in dramatic decreases in sun for solar panels, main windows, and gardens.  

Recent state law allows cities to protect solar access with “objective standards” as part of the design requirements of new housing. Currently, Berkeley lacks objective solar access and shadow standards that many other cities have already enacted. Berkeley has yet to protect rooftop solar panels, even though Berkeley was designated as a Solar America City by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007. Sadly, this absence of standards and codes has already allowed cases where solar panels have been shadowed by new development. 

In your email: Tell the City Council and Mayor Arreguin that “Objective standards” need to require any new construction to PROTECT SOLAR ACCESS on any nearby roof, up until one hour before sundown, every day of the year. 

Item 31 on the Tuesday, October 12 Berkeley City Council agenda addresses solar access and other objective standards to guide development. More housing can be built without cutting off neighbors’ access to sunlight. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2021/10_Oct/City_Council__10-12-2021_-_Regular_Meeting_Agenda.aspx 

Berkeley has 3,000 roof top solar installations. This cuts down on our carbon footprint, provides resilience, and generates electricity. The combined effects of climate change, rolling black outs, and the increase of electric cars means that roof top solar panels are the most efficient, most resilient answer for our own power. Don’t let the City jeopardize this valuable resource in the face of Climate Change. Don’t devalue resident’s investments in solar panels and food production. With reasonable setbacks and design adjustments, we can have more housing without reducing solar access.  

Thousands of years ago, Mayan pyramids and Stonehenge used the sun to guide their design. If our ancestors could do it, so can Berkeley architects using computerized design systems with built-in “shade studies” to accurately predict the loss of solar access created by any design. 

PROTECT SOLAR ACCESS FOR BERKELEY HOMES.  

More housing AND more solar energy. 

This post by Todd Darling, Toni Mester, David Ushijima, and Rob Wrenn, Berkeley Solar Rights Committee. The Berkeley Solar Rights Committee is a recently formed local Berkeley ad hoc committee concerned about preserving solar access for Berkeley's homes and solar panels.