Easements: Solar Access Protection Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow :: Essays Papers

Easements: Solar Access Protection Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow At tropical latitudes the sun is directly overhead the majority of the time, therefore, solar access is guaranteed without regulation. However, in the United States, solar access is influenced by many factors including; latitude, time of day, season, and angle of the sun. Furthermore, shade and shadows due to vegetation and structure greatly diminish the productive capacity of solar collection. Unfortunately, the right to unhindered solar access does not accompany land ownership rights in the United States. Federal and state governments encourage uses of alternative energy sources by appropriating funds for research and development of alternative energy technologies and through tax credits. Laws and/or regulations that guarantee landowner rights to solar access are critical for continued application of solar collection. Many states have introduced legislation to protect solar access rights, in effect removing barriers for solar energy utilization. Without legal safeguards, tim e and monetary investments in solar collection are fruitless and unwise. Although protected in ancient Greece, it was not until the 1970s and the OPEC oil embargo that U.S. courts and lawmakers began to create legal protection for landowners right to solar access. Consequently, twenty-four states enacted legislation to protect solar access, largely by recognizing the validity of solar access easements (Bradbrook 1988). This paper will attempt to explain easements and their historical context in terms of solar access rights. Additionally, we will explore the future of solar access regulation and law in terms of what needs to be done to create successful legislation that guarantees solar access for all. Balancing is a key aspect of legal challenges to solar access. This term refers to the balance between the rights of one landowner to use the sun as a source of energy versus the rights of neighboring landowners to fully exercise their private property rights including economic gain as a result of using their land (Charter 1983). Easements are collectively viewed as a mechanism of solar access protection that successfully weighs political, economic and legal concerns (Beaumont and Imperati1984). Easements can be complex especially when dealing with property rights. To simplify our discussion we will consider easements to be a property right transfer, agreed upon in a written covenant that guarantees one landowner a limited right to access a benefit from another’s land.