Solar Headache (Patreon)

Americans who pride themselves on their freedom often mock the bureaucratic red tape Australians and Germans face in daily life. Yet, when it comes to installing rooftop solar panels, the joke’s on us. In the U.S., the median cost of a 7-kilowatt system is about $28,000. In Australia, it’s roughly $4,000. In Germany — where homeowners need only fill out a simple two-page form — the price is around $10,000.

What explains this huge gap? Blame a tangle of state and local regulations, homeowners associations, and overly complex permitting, inspection, and interconnection rules that make it far harder for Americans to generate their own clean energy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. A new analysis from the research group Permit Power, shared exclusively with Heatmap, lays out a clear roadmap to cut through the red tape and make solar power truly accessible.

I tried to get solar this summer.... the permit process and administration tripped me up.

UPDATE from OZ

h.t Sanjay