Conservation versus Preservation
The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article about people who want to make their homes more energy efficient running into serious snags with local building commissions and zoning groups that want to maintain the homogenous look and feel of the town's homes.
Towns really need to wake up and start removing these types of hurdles, because they really will deter people from moving to renewable sources of energy (which are already expensive enough without the hassles involved in getting permits and approvals). Some states are more progressive on this issue than others:
Some states are trying to make energy-efficient improvements easier. California has long restricted homeowners' associations from blocking solar-panel installations, and New Jersey and Arizona passed similar legislation this year. A bill in Connecticut would override zoning restrictions and make it easier for people to put in wind turbines on their property. It wasn't passed, but lawmakers hope to revive it next session.
A story like this illustrates how removed most people are from the reality of our current energy crisis. Until local, state, and federal government gets religion, renewable energy at the residential level will continue to look a lot like salmon swimming upstream. Which is unfortunate ...
