Each summer, sunny skies stress California's power grid, as homeowners and businesses crank up air conditioners and refrigerators kick in overtime.
But State Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Los Angeles, believes the same sun that heats the state may hold the solution to its energy shortages.
"There's no good reason why all of California's new homes shouldn't come with solar power, just like they all come with energy-saving windows and insulation,' he said.
A bill sponsored by Murray would require developers to install solar panels on 25 percent of new homes built in developments of 25 houses or more, beginning in 2006.
It has already reached the Assembly after gaining approval from the state Senate earlier this week.
The bill's chief supporter, clean energy advocate Environment California, asserts that if passed, it will help California to meet its energy needs without worsening air pollution problems or building numerous new power plants.
But bill opponents, most in the state's building industry, argue it would add thousands of dollars to the cost of a new house in a state suffering from a housing shortage and a dearth of affordable housing.
"The policy of mandating certain items in new homes is bad public policy,' said Frank Williams, a local spokesman for the California Building Industry Association. "With the affordability crisis we have in the state, adding more cost to a home is excluding a lot of the population from being able to experience the American dream.'
If approved, the bill would require a 2 kilowatt photovoltaic system on a percentage of new homes, enough to provide about half of a typical home's energy needs, according to bill sponsors.
Energy Efficiency Solar, a Pomona company that installed about 110 photovoltaic systems last year, estimates the cost of the mandate at about $8,000 per home, or perhaps lower if the cost of the technology continues to decline or a higher volume of buyers lower costs.
One advantage of solar power: Peak generation tends to come on the same sunny days when the state's power grid needs all the juice it can get.
But is the technology worth the cost?
Lisa Rosen, business manager at Energy Efficiency Solar, said most of her company's customers are affluent, but that the technology pays for itself in eight or nine years when state rebates given to residents with solar technology are factored in.
But Mark Skowronski, who works for Solargenics, a company that produces a competing solar technology, doesn't think photovoltaic technology is cost- effective.
"It certainly lessens the cost burden if you include it in a mortgage and pay for it over time, but it's a relatively expensive way to get electricity,' he said. "The cost-effectiveness probably isn't there, but they're talking about mandating it.'