Solar Panels at Del Boca Vista

Are we those kind of people?

Original artwork by Sloan Stump

“We’re not those kind of people” said the email that went out to everyone in the homeowner’s association.

My wife and I have a condo in a small subdivision that isn’t technically a retirement community, and there are some people younger than us who live there… but it’s basically a retirement community. We moved in a few years ago out of expedience as the sandwich generation: to be very near my parents (three doors down) and our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons (half a mile across the road). Because we’ve watched way more Seinfeld than we should, we refer to the quasi-retirement village as Del Boca Vista, Phase II.

The residents have a tendency to hit “reply all” on the emails that go out. And some might have a little too much time on their hands, such that minor issues can be dwelt on and blown out of proportion. But for the most part, it has been a fine experience. The “we are not those kind of people” email was an exception to that rule.

We had started exploring whether we could put solar panels on the roof of our condo. Technically, the home owners association owns the roof, and this was a new enough request that there wasn’t anything covering it in the rules and regulations. So the board asked me to come to one of their meetings and make a presentation. I did, and they seemed reasonably satisfied that it wasn’t going to ruin the neighborhood. But the community does not really understand the board to be elected to make decisions on behalf of the community; rather they are supposed to channel the will of everyone in the community (and they hear from everyone if they didn’t satisfy them all). So it was decided that the board would invite feedback on whether individual residents should be allowed to have solar panels on their roofs.

Let’s just say that didn’t bring out the best in everyone. The emails were finally stopped by promising a special in-person meeting where everyone’s voice could be heard. I had expected that the group would be much less feisty in person than they were over email. In fact, I didn’t think many people would show up for the meeting. I was wrong about that.

I walked into the meeting room at the church next door just a couple of minutes before start time, and it was packed. The board said that we were going to have an open discussion, then take a vote on whether the board could approve individual petitions to put solar panels up, and the majority decision would be final. I was invited to give an opening statement.

I had prepared what I thought to be a pretty persuasive speech, appealing to all sorts of different values. It’s not just the liberal NPR climate-conscious crowd that wants solar panels. Many of the libertarians (and Amish families in our county) now use solar to stay off the grid. And others are in it purely for the financial benefits: it’s the cheapest form of energy. I ended by making an appeal to freedom: I’m not asking that all the rest of you get solar panels for your condos, I’m just asking for the freedom to be permitted to get them for mine.

Lots of “discussion” ensued. One man asked me about the financial benefits. I told him that with the federal rebates and our power company’s net metering, I’d recoup the entire purchase price in about 8 years. He replied, “I’m 82 years old. That doesn’t make any sense for me to be investing in a scheme that won’t pay off until I’m 90. I’m voting “no” and encourage others to do the same.” Hmmm… you heard the part about us not voting on whether everyone is required to get solar panels, right?

Another person got up and said, “I’ve been doing my own research into this. Do you know what’s in these solar panels? Let me read you the list of ingredients: silicon, cadmium, copper, gallium. If we really cared about the environment, we wouldn’t put these in our neighborhood.” Hmmm… do you know what’s in your truck?

Someone else was concerned about the disturbing the uniform look of our village. I replied that this was an important consideration, but we already allow some variances, right? We’re allowed to put different landscaping flowers outside our units; some of you put those blue lightbulbs in the lamppost by your driveway; and some have gotten permission to put in skylights, which is a different colored rectangle on you roof — that’s all I’m asking to do: put a different colored rectangle on my roof.

All of their responses seemed to me to be a straightforward application of Jonathan Haidt’s work about motivated reasoning: we believe most of the things we do for non-rational reasons, but then during arguments we marshal rationalizations that aren’t really why we believe something. The fundamental value of the people against solar panels was summed up in that original reply-all email: we’re not those kind of people. Despite my appeal to all kinds of different tribes, the dominant identity marker for them was the liberal vs. conservative divide.

A few people made quick statements supporting my cause, but I wasn’t optimistic going into the vote. Ballots were handed out to each unit (people living in the same unit didn’t get separate votes). And then there was about a 15 minute break while the ballots were being counted, which seemed longer than necessary. But when the announcement was made, we understood why it took so long.

The question was: Should the board be allowed to consider and approve requests for individuals to put solar panels on their unit’s roof? The chairman of the board announced the result saying, “No one is going to be happy with this. There were 24 yes votes, and 23 no votes. The yeses carry. The board has permission to consider and approve requests for solar panels.”

There was a collective sigh from the crowd — not least from me. Would I move ahead with my plans, knowing that half of the community was against it? Several board members came to me, urging me to do just that. They believed that it would be good to show everyone how we can do this responsibly and not ruin the neighborhood. I sat on it for a couple of months, but then did proceed.

Looking back now, this was a funny episode. It was pretty stressful at the time, particularly for the board members of the home owners association. But with some distance you can see the blind spots and motivated reason people on both sides had. I suppose we were a microcosm of the country and maybe the world.

I’ve now had my solar panels for a year now. I’m pleased to report that nothing bad has happened. Maybe we are those kind of people after all.