![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Plug-in-solar-panels-deck-Bright-Saver.webp.jpeg\")
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Portable, plug-in solar panels soak up rays on the deck of a home in the San Francisco Bay Area.Bright Saver<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by\u00a0Canary Media<\/a> and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0Climate Desk<\/a>\u00a0collaboration.<\/p>\n California lawmakers are considering two bills that would slash red tape for households looking to add certain types of clean\u00a0tech.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, whose district includes San Francisco, introduced legislation that would make it easier for individuals to adopt all-electric, super-efficient\u00a0heat pumps<\/a>\u00a0(SB\u00a0222<\/a>) and\u00a0plug-in solar panels<\/a>\u00a0(SB\u00a0868<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of energy is too high,\u201d Wiener told Canary Media.\u00a0\u200b\u201cWe want to lower people\u2019s utility bills; we want people to be able to participate in the clean energy economy; and we want people to be able to take control of their energy future. And that\u2019s what these bills\u00a0do.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposals come as Americans are in the grip of a\u00a0worsening cost-of-living crisis\u2014of which energy is a\u00a0key driver.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should empower people to use this technology. And right now, it\u2019s too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Electricity costs have grown at\u00a0about\u00a02.5\u00a0times<\/a>\u00a0the pace of persistent inflation, and home heating costs are\u00a0expected to surge this winter<\/a>. In California, which has the second-highest electricity rates in the nation, the problem is particularly pressing. Heat pumps and plug-in solar panels could\u00a0help.<\/p>\n Heat pumps\u2014air conditioners that also provide all-electric heat\u2014are about\u00a0two to five times<\/a>\u00a0as efficient as gas furnaces without those appliances\u2019 planet-warming and\u00a0health-harming pollution<\/a>. Even in California, where gas is\u00a0relatively inexpensive<\/a>\u00a0compared with electricity, a\u00a0heat pump\u2019s high efficiency can enable households\u00a0to save<\/a>\u00a0on their energy bills, especially when tapping the sun for cheap, abundant power.<\/p>\n Enter portable,\u00a0plug-and-play solar panels<\/a>. These modest systems, which users can drape over balcony railings or prop up in backyards, allow renters, apartment dwellers, and others who can\u2019t put panels on their roofs to harvest enough of the sun\u2019s rays to power a\u00a0fridge or a\u00a0few small appliances for a\u00a0fraction of the day. A\u00a0connected battery can save solar energy for use at\u00a0night.<\/p>\n The tech is booming in Europe. In Germany, for example, where people can\u00a0order kits via Ikea<\/a>, as many as\u00a04\u00a0million households<\/a>\u00a0have hung up\u00a0Balkonkraftwerke, or\u00a0\u200b\u201cbalcony power plants.\u201d There, households can cover\u00a0as much as one-fifth<\/a>\u00a0of their energy needs using these systems.<\/p>\n In the US, an\u00a0800-watt unit for\u00a0$1,099<\/a>\u00a0can save a\u00a0household as much as\u00a0$450\u00a0annually<\/a>\u00a0in states with higher electricity prices like California, according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n But unlike those in Germany, US households typically need to apply for an\u00a0interconnection agreement<\/a>\u00a0with their utility before they can install these systems\u2014just as they would for adding a\u00a0rooftop solar array. That process often requires fees, permits, and an inspection, and it can take weeks to months. Only one state allows residents to install plug-in solar without a\u00a0utility\u2019s permission:\u00a0deep-red Utah<\/a>.<\/p>\n Permitting in some cities\u00a0\u200b\u201cis way too lengthy and onerous and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers elsewhere are now stampeding to make plug-in solar available to their constituents.<\/p>\n Besides Utah and now California, legislatures in more than a\u00a0dozen states want to unleash the tech: Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington have all introduced bills, according to Cora Stryker, co-founder of plug-in solar nonprofit\u00a0Bright Saver<\/a>, which has been advising some states on their proposals. Based on conversations the organization has had with state representatives, Stryker said she expects a\u00a0whopping half of US states to introduce bills this\u00a0year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should empower people to use this technology,\u201d Wiener said.\u00a0\u200b\u201cAnd right now, it\u2019s too hard. The idea that you have to get an interconnection agreement with the utility to put\u2026plug-in solar on your balcony\u2014it makes no\u00a0sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Administrative hurdles are also\u00a0holding back heat pumps<\/a>. \u201cThe current permitting process is difficult,\u201d Aaron Gianni, president of Larratt Brothers Plumbing in San Francisco, told state policymakers on January\u00a06.\u00a0\u200b\u201cAs a\u00a0contractor dealing with more than\u00a0109\u00a0different building departments in the Bay Area, we must navigate the nuances of each: different inspectors, changing paperwork requirements, high fees, and strict setbacks [that] sometimes make installation impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n The situation can be even worse when a\u00a0customer lives in a\u00a0unit governed by a\u00a0homeowners association, Gianni said.\u00a0\u200b\u201cMany HOAs have outright prevented new electric equipment from being installed.\u201d<\/p>\n Wiener, who is running for US Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s seat and boasts a\u00a0tongue-in-cheek\u00a0MAGA\u00a0fan club<\/a>, put it bluntly. Permitting in some cities\u00a0\u200b\u201cis way too lengthy and onerous and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe [heat-pump] bill creates a\u00a0streamlined path to be able to get a\u00a0quick, automatic permit,\u201d he explained. It would also loosen restrictions on equipment placement, cap permit fees at $200, and make it illegal to ban heat\u00a0pumps.<\/p>\n Wiener\u2019s heat-pump legislation, which has some\u00a0industry detractors as well as grassroots supporters<\/a>, has already\u00a0passed<\/a>\u00a0out of the California Senate\u2019s housing and local-government committees.<\/p>\n The plug-in solar bill has yet to come up for any votes. Still, with energy affordability shaping up to be a\u00a0decisive issue in the\u00a02026\u00a0midterm elections, both proposals\u00a0\u200b\u201chave, I\u00a0think, a\u00a0real possibility of passing,\u201d Wiener said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese technologies are a\u00a0win-win-win, and enabling access to them is simply good government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portable, plug-in solar panels soak up rays on the deck of a home in the San Francisco Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-146282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}