Majority Support for Solar Panels on New Homes Signals Change
A recent poll shows overwhelming support for solar panels on new homes, with discussions on the Sunshine Bill set to take place soon
Solar Panels, New Homes, YouGov Poll, CPRE, Cheltenham, UK
Cheltenham: A recent YouGov poll for CPRE, the countryside charity, revealed that a whopping 82% of people support installing rooftop solar panels on new buildings. Among Labour voters, that number jumps to 89%. Pretty impressive, right?
This poll comes just in time as MPs are gearing up to discuss the Sunshine Bill on January 17. This bill, introduced by Max Wilkinson, a Liberal Democrat MP from Cheltenham, aims to make rooftop solar panels a standard feature on new homes.
To move forward, the bill needs at least 100 MPs to show up and vote in favor. So far, over 5,000 supporters from CPRE have reached out to their MPs to lend their backing.
Research from UCL back in May 2023 showed that there’s enough unused roof space to support a staggering 117GW of solar energy capacity. That’s way more than the government’s goal of generating 70GW by 2030.
Roger Mortlock, the chief executive of CPRE, emphasized that rooftop solar is a smart solution for our energy needs. It makes the best use of our limited land resources. He summed it up perfectly: “The time for change has come.”