As a result of the Building Code meetings with industry representatives, Miami-Dade County got the Board of Rules and Appeals to agree to a number of changes that will benefit solar.
For one, solar equipment will be considered "green" for the purposes of qualifying for the free "fast-track" of building permits in the unincorporated county. I hear the County is in talks with interested cities to get them to adopt similar fast tracking for green buildings and solar.
Another biggie is that the County will now consider solar panels as being "non-permanent" equipment so they can be installed as designed instead of being treated like air conditioning equipment and other "permanent" rooftop equipment.
Now if we could get a couple more products through code approval. The County may have a plan for that too. We'll have to wait and see if the Department of Energy approves the recent energy efficiency block grant program list, but there's a strong chance that the County may get the green-light on a project to reduce "market barriers" and help companies with the cost of getting product approval.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
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