This week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors enacted an ordinance that will require that the developers of all new buildings of 10 floors or less that apply for building permits after January 1, 2017 install solar PV or solar thermal systems.  I’m not an expert in the California Code of Regulations, so I’m not familiar with all of the potential exemptions, but the only one stated in the new ordinance is for buildings (residential or non-residential) with a “solar zone” of less than 150 contiguous square feet.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in San Francisco and elsewhere.  We all know how expensive San Francisco is.  It hard to see how this helps.  In Boston and environs, there are those who would say that the single biggest obstacle to maintaining our strong economic position is that we have insufficient housing for young families, leading too much of our young talent to move elsewhere.

Boston residents know how little we like playing second fiddle to San Francisco on anything, and certainly on being green.  How will we balance the urge to one-up the San Francisco with the need keep construction costs manageable?

Will the City on the Hill trump the City by the Bay?  Stay tuned!