Spanish Solar, Spain begins to enjoy the SUN.

The emerging EU power, Spain, which has not made any changes to it's building code since 1970s, is taking giant steps to make solar power a prime part of the building or renovating any new structures.
All homes now have to have, at least, hot water solar systems and all new businesses have to generate solar electricity. Other regulations in the new building code include mandatory use of insulation, maintenance of heating and cooling systems and use of natural light. All together, these practices should decrease electricity use by up to 40%.
“The new standards will bring energy savings of 30 to 40 percent for each building and a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy consumption of 40 to 55 percent,” the Environment and Housing Ministries said in a joint statement.

Spain, which is both enjoying and loathing a gigantic boom in construction, is hoping to control some of that growth as well as mitigate its impacts with the new regulations. The construction lobby, of course, is furious, saying that building costs will go up over 10%. The government does not seem too unhappy about that, but cites it's own figures that say the costs of construction will be recouped by energy savings within a couple years.
Way to go Spain, these are the wars you should fight.

Links;
Reuters article via MSNBC

Tags: spanish Solar, solar power, solar water heater, energy saving, co2 emissions