Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

Re: Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

Yep! don't move into a HOA, They boards can be full of nasty people that analize everything.

Re: Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

If you're getting "free" solar power and I'm not, I'm going to do everything my lawyer thinks I can get away with to put a stop to it. The heck with the environment, common sense or anything else, I WANT IT STOPPED!
That's why I hate the sound of wind turbines too. It's the sound of money going in YOUR bank account and not mine!
What a bunch of pompous idiots!

Re: Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

Fortunately WA has a CC&R preemption clause.

Basically it says if it meets code nobody can make you take it down.

Re: Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

There is law prevent such abuse of astheics principals. Here is AZ there is an actual exclusion law to prevent a HOA from blocking ones use of the sun.

Below are the Arizona State Statutes for your reference:
33-439. Restrictions on installation or use of solar energy devices invalid; exception
A. Any covenant, restriction or condition contained in any deed, contract, security agreement or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property which effectively prohibits the installation or use of a solar energy device as defined in section 44-1761 is void and unenforceable.
B. A deed, contract, security agreement or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property entered into before April 17, 1980 shall not be subject to the provisions of this section.
http://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/00439.htm
33-1816. Solar energy devices; reasonable restrictions; fees and costs
A. Notwithstanding any provision in the community documents, an association shall not prohibit the installation or use of a solar energy device as defined in section 44-1761.
B. An association may adopt reasonable rules regarding the placement of a solar energy device if those rules do not prevent the installation, impair the functioning of the device or restrict its use or adversely affect the cost or efficiency of the device.
C. Notwithstanding any provision of the community documents, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees and costs to any party who substantially prevails in an action against the board of directors of the association for a violation of this section.
http://www.azleg.gov/ars/33/01816.htm

44-1761. Definitions
In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Collector" means a component of a solar energy device that is used to absorb solar radiation, convert it to heat or electricity and transfer the heat to a heat transfer fluid or to storage.
2. "Heat exchanger" means a component of a solar energy device that is used to transfer heat from one fluid to another.
3. "Solar daylighting" means a device specifically designed to capture and redirect the visible portion of the solar beam spectrum, while controlling the infrared portion, for use in illuminating interior building spaces in lieu of artificial lighting.
4. "Solar energy device" means a system or series of mechanisms designed primarily to provide heating, to provide cooling, to produce electrical power, to produce mechanical power, to provide solar daylighting or to provide any combination of the foregoing by means of collecting and transferring solar generated energy into such uses either by active or passive means. Such systems may also have the capability of storing such energy for future utilization. Passive systems shall clearly be designed as a solar energy device such as a trombe wall and not merely a part of a normal structure such as a window.
5. "Storage unit" means a component of a solar energy device that is used to store solar generated electricity or heat for later use.
http://www.azleg.gov/ars/44/01761.htm

Re: Conflicting rights: going green vs "eyesore"

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Good for you! I've often wondered what people do with all that power. Our "new" house (we've had it for 1 year now) uses just under 6000 kW hours per year. So far I've only made one improvement; ditching the electric stove. Hot water heater is next to go, followed by the dryer. In contrast, our old All Electric house used 14,600 kW hours in the same time period. That's with only me there doing renos, and not being there for about 1/3 the time.

Electricity is a lousy way to heat things!

Electric Stove, Electric Dryer (wife hates Gas and if you can offset some CO2 so be it) , Dual 3 ton heat pumps for AC in AZ and occasional heating you can easily exceed 6000 kWH annually. I think we are pretty green in fact only used 1521kWh in Jan with some heating load while still spinning the meter backwards 121kWh. I am looking forward to March - May to rack up some credits for the cooling season.

I do agree electric heating of anything is crazy, but happy wife happy life! We do have a gas hot water heater, but with the solar hot water heating, it seldom fires. The minimum connect charges for GAS here is $16.50 a month, and last month we used 2 therms from cloudy days I assume. It is almost crazy to have gas at all here, and the small amount of electric it would take a hybrid electric would have been a smarter choice if purchased at a reasonable cost. (they are about double a high efficiency gas unit to purchase). Still at the monthly cost to be connected to GAS it takes lots of months to justify the hybrid.


Have to love the APS credit system on the kWh, still on the Feb 3 bill we had over $165 to use against about $25 per month in connection fees for the grid.