Environment Solar panels mandatory for new Tokyo homes after 2025

According to a new regulation passed by Tokyo's local assembly on Thursday, all new houses in Tokyo built by large-scale homebuilders after April 2025 must install solar power panels to cut household carbon emissions. It requires some 50 major builders to equip homes of up to 2,000 square meters with renewable energy power sources, mainly solar panels.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike noted last week that just 4% of buildings where solar panels could be installed in the city have them now. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2000 levels. Japan, the world's fifth-largest carbon emitter, has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 but faces difficulty as it has relied heavily on coal-burning thermal power after most of its nuclear reactors were in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

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My neighbor had them put on his roof. The amount of wiring in his cellar was unbelievable. His can be used to charge big batteries which can provide AC , not DC power , but he couldn't afford the batteries. I guess he sells his power back to the local electric company , but it seemed way too complicated to bother with to me.

Solar rigs can range from very simple to very complex. I've done a fair amount of research as I've worked on vehicle conversion projects, but I'm mostly focused on lightweight mobile solutions.

A home setup can be used to reduce reliance on the grid or even sell energy back (though the incentives aren't as good as they once were, as I understand). If you have a decent power bank, you can pretty much go off the grid, but you still may need to pay for the infrastructure. If you don't have batteries then you still need to draw power from the grid when your panels aren't collecting energy, and you'd only be selling back the excess energy you generate and don't use during the day.

It can be a confusing mess, but a well-wired system is a thing of beauty, and once you study the schematics it starts to make sense and you begin to recognize the common components.