A man filed charges against his next door neighbors in Sunnyvale, California because two of the eight redwood trees on their property prevented sunlight from reaching his solar panels. Though the neighbors’ trees were planted long before the solar panels were installed in 2001, they were found to be in violation of an obscure state law protecting a homeowner’s right to sunlight.
The law requires that homeowners keep trees from shading more than 10 percent of a neighbor’s solar panels during the sun’s strongest hours, between 10 am and 2 pm.
Trees that block sunlight at the time of solar panel installation are exempt, but any new growth from existing trees is not. Residents may be fined up to $1,000. per day for these violations.
This is the first conviction of a homeowner in violation of this law. I would think that before making a $70,000 investment in solar panels, one would consider the probability that a neighbor’s redwood trees would continue to grow and eventually block sunlight to your solar panels. Come on, we’re talking about redwood trees not azalea bushes.
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I think we need to call Big Al Gore immediately, especially since he’s the leading authority on global warming. The question that needs to be posed to him is the following: Will the benefit of the solar panels be offset by the cutting down of those magnificent C02 absorbing redwoods, or vice versa! I’m so confused!!! I just tried Al, but he was jetting somewhere to lecture somebody on the size of their carbon footprints…..