Teen Inspires Law Requiring Solar Panels on New South Miami Houses

In South Miami, Florida, all new houses built after September 2017 will need to to come equipped with rooftop solar panels, thanks to a local teenager. As Inhabitat spotted from the Miami Herald, the recently passed city measure was originally the brainchild of Delaney Reynolds, a teenager who began writing mayors in her area about the idea in early 2016.

After seeing that a similar city ordinance had passed in San Francisco, the then 16-year-old Reynolds wrote to South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard proposing that he craft legislation requiring solar panels in new construction. In response, he asked her to help write the law with him.

The newly passed legislation requires that all new home construction or large-scale home renovations include solar panels. All houses must have either 175 square feet of solar panels per 1000 square feet of sunlit roof area, or at least enough to produce 2.75 kilowatts per 1000 square feet of living space. The solar power requirement also applies to renovations that replace or extend the structure by 75 percent. South Miami is the first city in Florida to pass this kind of mandate.

In Florida, the average solar panel system costs between $10,000 and $15,000 for a 6-kilowatt system, including the federal tax deduction, though those costs vary based on the area (states have their own tax deductions and credits for solar installation) and the type of system. But several years down the line, the investment should start paying off in the form of huge energy savings. In a sunny area like Los Angeles, for instance, homeowners are estimated to save around $90,000 over 20 years, according to the solar marketplace EnergySage.

Reynolds plans to continue to work toward making life in South Florida more sustainable in the face of climate change through her environmental nonprofit Sink or Swim, which is devoted to working against sea level rise.