I just found out about "balcony solar" which is, by and large, illegal in the US (web.archive.org)

submitted 9 months ago by regul@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net

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Apparently this is all the rage in Germany (and China) where you can buy a kit at the supermarket for 500-600EUR and then you simply hang the solar panels over your balcony and plug them in to a wall outlet to reduce your net usage.

I was trying to do research on why we don't have this in the US and it doesn't seem like there are any particularly good reasons for it other than sclerotic response to "new" technology.

Seems like an incredibly cool idea to make apartment dwelling even more sustainable.

non-archive link: https://www.dw.com/en/mini-plug-in-solar-panels-are-they-worth-it/a-66240262

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[-] kusuriya@infosec.pub 13 points 9 months ago

you will find through most of the US and Canada sane city planning and design is illegal. Like many areas in the US have mandatory set backs that place housing far from where sidewalks would be then ban mixed use neighborhoods which creates that massive suburban sprawl of cookie cutter houses everyone except HOA Karens/Kevins complain about