{"id":38331,"date":"2014-08-21T11:58:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T16:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=38331"},"modified":"2014-08-21T11:58:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T16:58:31","slug":"solar-power-shedding-ugly-image-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/08\/21\/solar-power-shedding-ugly-image-in-houston\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Power Shedding \u2018Ugly\u2019 Image in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_38332\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 196px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Jennifer Ronk with the Houston Advanced Research Center\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2014\/08\/Jennifer-Ronk400px.png\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-38332\" alt=\"Jennifer Ronk with the Houston Advanced Research Center\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2014\/08\/Jennifer-Ronk400px-196x300.png\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2014\/08\/Jennifer-Ronk400px-196x300.png 196w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2014\/08\/Jennifer-Ronk400px.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">KUHF<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Ronk with the Houston Advanced Research Center<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Global demand for solar panels could soon create shortages according to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-08-18\/solar-boom-driving-first-global-panel-shortage-since-2006.html\" target=\"_blank\">Bloomberg News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In Texas, costs for solar are dropping and the amount of power Texans now get from the sun is up over 30-percent in the past year. But while some housing developments are banning the roof-top solar panels, saying they\u2019re unsightly, some homeowners in one Houston neighborhood can\u2019t imagine life without solar power.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the hottest part of the day in a subdivision on Houston\u2019s northwest side. The neatly-kept streets and lawns border several rows of recently-built, two-story homes made of brick and stone. They all look similar but a few of them have one difference: solar panels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t even notice them till we tell (visitors) we have solar panels, they\u2019re like where,\u201d said Velia Uballe, a stay-at-home mom.<\/p>\n<p>They bought their new, solar-panel equipped house three years ago. \u00a0But while Uballe said the panels hardly stand out, what they\u2019re saving on electricity definitely does.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/164023226&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve never had a bill for the first year over a hundred. It wasn\u2019t until last year, last year was the first year. And it was when we we\u2019re getting triple digits,\u201d Uballe told News 88.7.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Ronk with the Houston Advanced Research Center<\/p>\n<p>More homeowners are finding solar affordable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s some research that just came out showing Texas has some of the cheapest cost for installed solar in the entire country,\u201d said\u00a0<a title=\"Bio\" href=\"http:\/\/www.harc.edu\/people\/jronk\">Jennifer Ronk<\/a>\u00a0at the Houston Advanced Research Center in The Woodlands. She says it now costs about $15,000 or less for an average house.<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone can have them installed. Some years ago, homeowner\u2019s associations were banning the roof-top panels saying they were ugly. But Texas lawmakers wanted to encourage solar and in\u00a0<a title=\"Texas law\" href=\"http:\/\/www.capitol.state.tx.us\/tlodocs\/82R\/billtext\/html\/HB00362F.htm\">2011 a law took effect<\/a>\u00a0that substantially restricts those bans.<\/p>\n<p>There is a loophole though that allows developers of new subdivisions to ban solar panels until the development is completed. That\u2019s been an issue in North Texas where\u00a0<a title=\"Dallas Morning News article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/community-news\/plano\/headlines\/20140816-texas-law-lets-developers-ban-solar-panels-while-subdivisions-are-growing.ece\">a developer in Plano recently made the news<\/a>\u00a0for refusing to let a homeowner install solar. In the Houston area, Ronk says that\u2019s not been a major problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith some time and some education and working with the developers it hasn\u2019t really gotten in the way of any of the installations,\u201d Ronk said.<\/p>\n<p>What sometimes does get in the way is Mother Nature. For example, Ronk\u2019s own home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes it\u2019s quite ridiculous that I talk about solar all the time I\u2019m very much an advocate and I happen to have a house where my roof is at the wrong angle and there\u2019s too much shading and I can\u2019t reasonably put it on my own house,\u201d Ronk said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global demand for solar panels could soon create shortages according to\u00a0Bloomberg News. In Texas, costs for solar are dropping and the amount of power Texans now get from the sun is up over 30-percent in the past year. But while some housing developments are banning the roof-top solar panels, saying they\u2019re unsightly, some homeowners in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[14,32],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38335,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38331\/revisions\/38335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}