“The mandate’s been a divisive one, with critics claiming that all it really does is make housing more expensive and harder to find for lower-income Californians, who are already struggling in a costly and over-saturated market.
Proponents also emphasize that while the mandate will raise the cost of building a home, it’ll also save homeowners money on energy bills; the California Energy Commission estimates that the standards will add $9,500 to the price tag of constructing a new home, but save $19,000 in energy bills and maintenance over the course of 30 years. (Or, about $633 per year; that means it would take a homeowner about 15 years to recover the extra cost of going solar.)”
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