In today’s Daily Caller, AAF Director of Energy Policy Philip Rossetti writes on the California Energy Commission’s recent decision to require all newly built homes to have solar panels. See excerpt below.

“This mandate short circuits the calculations that homeowners, especially in sunny California, likely are already making. It instead tells homeowners, ‘We don’t trust you to make the choice on your own, so we’re making it for you.’ But the mandate does not automatically make the policy economical.

And ironically, this policy could stifle innovation in the solar industry. Solar is expensive, but its costs are dropping. California’s mandate, though, will funnel customers to solar panel producers, reducing competition and producers’ incentives to reduce costs. Slowing the pace of falling prices for renewable energy will be an unintended side effect of the mandate.”

Click here to read the full op-ed