Solar Powered Homes & California's New Build Home Legislation

Here at Greenshine New Energy we are big fans of all things solar, after all it’s great for the environment, saves energy and lowers energy costs.

With the recent legislation passed in California requiring every new build home to have solar power which will take effect in the next two years, we wondered what would the impact of this be if every state adopted this legislation?

To answer this question we looked at new build home data and calculated the average new build house size and amount of solar panels able to fit on its roof to determine power generation capabilities for each major city. We then looked at the average electricity rates and use by city to determine potential electricity bill savings.

The average new build home in America could fit a total of 18 solar panels on its roof. With four hours of sunlight a day and each solar panel being able to generate 250 watts each, this would generate 18 kWh of electricity per day, 540 kWh per month and 6,570 kWh per year.

Throughout America, Houston is the city that would benefit the most from California's legislation requiring all new build homes to have solar panels installed. Houston has the highest amount of new build homes with 17,881 built-in 2018 so far and these homes could fit a whopping 321,858 solar panels generating over 9 million kilowatt hours of energy per month resulting in monthly electricity bill savings of over $1million for the city.

Other cities saving big include Dallas with savings of $905k, Atlanta with over $723k, Phoenix with over $624k, and Austin with just under $396k.

Hartford is the city that would benefit the least from California's legislation requiring all new build homes to have solar panels installed. Hartford is building the least amount of new build homes with only 285 built-in 2018 so far. With such a small number of homes built the Hartford would see monthly savings of $19k with 5,130 solar panels producing 153,900kwh per month.

Other cities with small monthly electricity bill savings from new build solar panels include Buffalo with savings of $23k, Rochester with $24k, Pittsburgh with $26k, and Grand Rapids with $55k.

With the new California legislation coming online in 2020 we wondered what the impact would be on California if it was in place since the start of the year. California to date has built 16,698 new homes and these homes could fit over 300k solar panels  generate 162 million kWh for the state.When we look at the cities with the highest electricity bills, Birmingham leads the way with an average monthly bill of $140.46. Jacksonville follows closely behind with a monthly bill of $139.25 and New York City with a monthly bill of $136.85.

Looking at cities across America which could save the most on their electricity bills with solar panel installation on new build homes, New York City tops the list with a gigantic monthly saving of over 90% dropping their average household electricity bill from $136.85 to $12.65.

Sacramento homes, whilst not having the highest amount savings throughout the US, would see their monthly electricity bill become nearly $0 with a monthly bill of $0.89, thats a 98% saving!With such tangible savings, hopefully in the near future we’ll see multiple cities adopting this new legislation and solar power become a mainstay in cities from new houses to streetlamps.