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35. solar access april 7, 2010

Solar access study. Pprovided by Dan Staley.

Dan Staley introduces listeners of this podcast to the benefits and conflicts with solar access. One of these conflicts is that in an urban environment, trees often grow into the solar access plains. Each species also grows at a different speed and to a different width and height, all of which must be incorporated into the design. The benefits of solar access are well known and include reduction of energy requirements, improvement in comfort levels, and other environmental benefits.

New laws were implemented for solar access in Florida, California, and other states that specify the height of the buildings and trees that demonstrated optimal solar access. In some cases, individual species of plants used for screening are not permitted for use with solar access. Nevertheless, we have to consider that landscaping changes year after year. Trees that are in place today will most certainly be a different size next year, thereby differently affecting the solar access. Dan Staley is currently working on an application that can simulate these changes in solar access over the years.

According to Dan Staley, no national standards have been developed for solar access; therefore, each state regulates “right to light” differently. In fact, the right to light law changes every year in different ways depending on the state in question. Check with your local jurisdictions about changes in solar access regulations before designing a site plan.

Pprovided by Dan Staley.	Solar access study. Pprovided by Dan Staley.

Letters from Listeners

Good show. It is one of the most thought provoking podcast that I've heard. I started my career as a mechanical engineer. However I've migrated towards into planning in the last 13 years and I really love it. I really loved what Dan had to say in the podcast. I'll be following this discussion with great interest.

Forrest Lamb, CFM, CFMJ

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