Solar panels law makes greens see red

Nicholas Kulish

The law, the first of its kind in Germany, would require solar panels not only on new buildings but also on existing homes that under go renovations, get new heating systems or have roof repairs.

And yet Schoenherr opposes the new law.

Solar panels law makes greens see red
Published Date: 10 August 2008
Scotland on Sunday – Edinburgh, Scotland

IN THE fairytale town of Marburg, there’s a bitter struggle taking place over how to create a green Utopia – a vehement debate about when urging eco-friendly living turns into “green dictatorship”.
In June, the town council moved from merely encouraging citizens to install solar panels to making them obligatory. The law, the first of its kind in Germany, would require solar panels not only on new buildings but also on existing homes that under go renovations, get new heating systems or have roof repairs.

To give the regulation teeth, a fine of £785, awaits those who do not comply.

Critics say the rule constitutes an attack on the rights of property owners. The regional government in Giessen has stepped in and warned that it will overturn the rule.

In response, city officials in Marburg say they will take their case to administrative court, or all the way to the Hessian state capital, where they will try to get the state building code changed to protect their ordinance from officials in Giessen.

In the middle of this political chess match sit homeowners such as Goetz Schoenherr. From his balcony, Schoenherr can see the town’s famous hilltop Gothic castle, as well as two of its three power-generating wind turbines. On his roof, a solar panel glints in the sunlight. He uses it to heat his water, allowing him to turn off his boiler for roughly six months of the year – a boon for his wallet but a decision he said he made for the environment.

And yet Schoenherr opposes the new law.

Schoenherr had hoped to re-insulate his home, but to do so and satisfy the solar regulation he would have had to install a larger solar panel. It would have cost him close to £4,000.

“That leads, in my case, and I would think in other cases as well, to people saying: ‘Well, let’s just not reinsulate the roof,'” Schoenherr said. “So it’s absolutely counterproductive.”

Officials in Giessen agree. “We have no problem with the use of solar energy,” said spokesman Manfred Kersten, “but this was a poorly constructed ordinance.”

Germany is one of the world’s champions of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting renewable energy. Thanks to hefty federal subsidies, the country is by far the largest market for photovoltaic systems, which convert sunlight into electricity.

Marburg, a historic university town where the Brothers Grimm once studied, is a model of enlightened energy production and consumption. In addition to the wind turbines and solar installations, the town’s utility company buys hydroelectric power from Austria, is converting its fleet of buses and other vehicles to natural gas, and even lights footpaths with solar-powered lamps.

“Marburg is already a leader when it comes to the use of solar energy, but up until now they’ve always tried to convince people rather than forcing them,” said Hermann Uchtmann, the opposition politician behind the “green dictatorship” charge. He is a chemist at the local university, who once built a solar-powered desalinisation plant for the town’s sister city of Sfax, Tunisia.

“It’s unfortunate that they decided to compel people, because I think you breed opponents that way rather than friends of solar energy,” Uchtmann said.

But restricting the measure to new constructions would not gave gone far enough for the politicians behind it.

“We have a serious energy problem with the older homes,” Marburg’s deputy mayor Franz Kahle said. To make a real leap forward, he said, a dramatic step was necessary.

“Before, solar installations were the exception and their absence was the rule,” Kahle said. “We want to get to the point where the opposite is the case.”

Nicholas Kulish