Solar Energy

The Policy Plan within the city's Master Plan includes the following items: E-23: The City should promote energy conservation programs, and development of solar, wind, and geothermal energy resources. SD-15: The City should encourage all development to be energy efficient, and encourage site design which takes advantage of passive solar opportunities. The plan objectives for site analysis state solar path (summer & winter) should be included (p. 37). Plan objectives for grading state that hillside street alignments should generally parallel contours unless doing so would preclude solar orientation of lots (p. 40). There is a specific wind and solar orientation objective that says each plan for development should analyze wind direction and solar orientation (Objective #8, p. 47). The Building Mass Objective says that solar access should be considered when designing buildings (p. 55). The Conservation Plan mentions recommendations in other plans/reports that should be implemented, including the Washoe County Health Dept. recommendation to encourage passive and active solar energy in residential structures and developments (p. 15). In the Housing Plan, Action 6.1 is to develop guidelines and/or requirements for developers to employ energy conservation measures for building sites, landscaping, and solar access through development standards (p. 10).