But the new solar rule has generated a less sunny outlook from others.
Besides generating complaints about raising the cost of new homes in an already expensive housing market in California, the mandate has been criticized by some energy wonks who say the rule does not make economic sense and does nothing to reduce the glut of electricity already generated in the state in the middle of the day.
“All of my colleagues are saying, what the hell is going on in California?” said Severin Borenstein, professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
And within days of the vote, UC Davis economics professor James Bushnell posted a blog at Cal’s Energy Institute calling the mandate a symptom of “regulatory groupthink.”
A columnist for the Chicago Tribune called the new rule “boneheaded.”
View Article