houses with solar panels
Impact of Home Solar Energy

In many countries in warm climates, many homes have some kind of solar system on the roof, though more often for hot water than for electricity.  Why is that less common in the US?  Because electricity from the power grid is reliable and relatively cheap, but also because regulations have not favored it. In particular, the controversy is over net-metering--if you have a PV solar unit on your home, on what terms can you sell excess energy you produce back to the power company? How has solar electric power improved, and which is its current and potential impact on society?  What is the impact of politics on this technology?  Please pick one US state (or territory) to examine laws and current debates over regulation.  Make sure to focus only on solar electric power systems on the roofs of homes and small businesses.

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2016042900

http://climatenexus.org/net-metering-fight-understanding-latest-issue-nation%E2%80%99s-rapidly-changing-electricity-market

http://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2016/03/16/the-solar-net-metering-controversy-who-pays-for-energy-subsidies/#4826fe7d6291


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/business/energy-environment/solar-power-battle-puts-hawaii-at-forefront-of-worldwide-changes.html?_r=0


https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-solar-boom-so-successfull-its-been-halted/

https://www.brookings.edu/research/rooftop-solar-net-metering-is-a-net-benefit/

http://www.marketplace.org/2016/02/23/world/nevada-solar

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-koch-brothers-dirty-war-on-solar-power-20160211

http://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/generation/NetMetering/Documents/Straight%20Talk%20About%20Net%20Metering.pdf


http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/681131?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents


https://www-cdn.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Comello-Reichelstein-2016-NEM-Restrictions-Impacts.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151500227X (for those with some background in economics)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462961530030X