TOKYO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - All new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions, according to a new regulation passed by the Japanese capital's local assembly on Thursday.
The mandate, the first of its kind for a Japanese municipality, requires about 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels.
Japan, the world's fifth-largest carbon emitter, has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 but faces difficulty as it has relied heavily on coal-burning thermal power after most of its nuclear reactors were in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
"In addition to the existing global climate crisis, we face an energy crisis with a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war," Risako Narikiyo, a member of Koike's regional party Tomin First no Kai, said at the assembly on Thursday. "There is no time to waste."
Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and William Mallard
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cantcooklovefood on December 15th, 2022 at 15:35 UTC »
in CA solar panels have been mandated for new detached homes since 2019 codes. the only exception is attached ADU, or if the system size required is smaller than 1.8kW DC (this last bit might be part of 2022 codes, id have to check to be sure).
SyrousStarr on December 15th, 2022 at 14:05 UTC »
"Japan, the world's fifth-largest carbon emitter, has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 but faces difficulty as it has relied heavily on coal-burning thermal power after most of its nuclear reactors were in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster."
Do they mean multiple reactors were taken offline due to the disaster or is this some sort of incomplete thought?
WirelessBCupSupport on December 15th, 2022 at 12:43 UTC »
As I've considered it on renovated home (mine), the ROI, Return on investment, didn't make sense in the reason: we will be selling in less than two years to move. And a buyer may not desire panels/system as the market here doesn't prove that a US$30K install will justify increase to purchasing price. (if home in current market sells for $500K, would having solar installation increase value to $530-550K ? ... which from my realtor, isn't happening. Just like most homes with pools don't increase value, but for few wanting it... the added costs to maintain sometimes make it a negative.)