Do Solar Panels Really Look So Bad?

I can't say I was stunned by this story in my local paper, but it still amazes me that people who are trying to do the right environmental thing by installing solar panels can be shot down by homeowners' associations because they don't like the look of them.

That's what happened to a New Jersey homeowner, who faces giving up a $26,000 state grant, losing $14,000 he spent on the panels, and spending $20,000 to fix the roof once the solar panels are removed, The Star-Ledger reports. His homeowners' association voted 3-2 to deny his after-the-fact request to install the panels. He didn't think he needed approval because solar panels were not specifically referred to in the association bylaws, but the board said that all major alterations and modifications are in its domain.

It's a familiar story in many a beautiful planned development, the kind that take untold gallons of water to keep the grass green in dry, hot climates. In Florida, more than 50 homeowners' associations a year try to keep residents from installing solar panels on rootftops, The Wall Street Journal Online reports in a story on the trend.  

I get that planned developments strive for uniformity and neatness, and homeowners sign away a good bit of individuality when they buy into them. But there's a bigger issue at stake here. If we're going to start thinking green and embracing more needed alternative energy sources, we're going to have to start liking green. In other words, solar panels will have to start to look good to us, and become just another piece of the suburban and urban landscape that looks as if it belonged there all along. It's a change in thinking, yes, but a necessary one.