Shady Business in Sunnyvale

Have we come to such a state that haughty solar panel owners can put their tree-hugging neighbors permanently in the carbon footprint shade? Apparently we have and that state's name is California.

Today, light trumped oxygen as a court order was carried out against a convicted redwood tree in Silicon Valley. A tree service gave a poodle cut to about a third of the Sunnyale tree's branches below the tip of the redwood to allow light to penetrate to a neighbor's solar panels. See video of the poodle-cut tree here.

At issue is a California state law, the Solar Shade Control Act of 1978, that requires that trees be removed if they block more than 10% of the light reaching solar panels during peak sunshine hours. Trees that exist at the time of the solar panel installation are exempt, but new growth on existing trees is not grandfathered in.

Mark Vargas, who has a small backyard, decided to install solar panels seven years ago. He told his neighbor, Richard Treanor, that Treanor would need to cut down his existing redwood trees to allow the sunlight to reach his solar panels.

For reasons known only to Vargas, he didn't install his seventy thousand dollar solar panels on his two-story house roof. He installed them on his back porch roof. Had he installed the panels on his house roof, the trees would not appear to block the sunlight.

Treanor objected. His trees were there first. He and his wife felt that they shouldn't have to go to the expense and visual assault of removing their beautiful, established redwoods simply because their neighbor decided to go solar.

But the courts were the eventual arbiter of this neighborhood grudge match. The Treanors were convicted of the crime of shady business. The court didn't side with Vargas altogether. Only one of the trees were found to be a repeat offender and the court did not levy the $1000/day fine on the Treanors.

Today, the executioner gave a small reprieve by just trimming the offending branches of the tree, resulting in a strange poodle cut. Vargas is not satieted in his sap-lust. He wants all the trees cut down, not trimmed. He vows to continue his court fight to get them all chopped down.

After seeing the video of his small, deeply shaded backyard, one cannot help but think that he might have been motivated to go solar more to gain sunshine in his backyard than to save energy.

But if the legislature makes a mistake, it is only too willing to make amends. One state legislator is proposing an amendment that fully grandfathers existing trees, including new growth, into the solar panel law.

But nothing saves Vargas from the Bad Neighbor of the Decade Award. Sadly, he'll have to live with himself knowing that he has singlehandedly and ironically added to the carbon footprint of his solar panels by reducing oxygen generated by the redwood.

The Treanors, who drive a sensible Toyota Prius, point out that the trees absorb carbon dioxide, cool the surrounding air, and provide wildlife habitat. They are quick to say that they support solar energy, but feel that it could be implemented in a more rational way.

Vargas, not to be outdone, recently bought an irrational fully electric plug-in car. He said that it would take 2-3 acres of trees to outweigh the carbon savings from his solar panels.

He did not mention how many trees it would take to offset his fully electric car's energy requirements from coal-fired electric generating plants. It is doubtful that his car is at home charging during the day when the solar panels are baking electricity. Nor did he say what are his plans for long-distance trips for which his electric car are ill-suited.

Aside from Vargas' solar motive, another question unanswered by the media is whether the Treanors could sue Vargas for damage to their home value after he forced them to ruin the appearance of the tree, especially since it was required by his apparent negligent placement of the solar panels. The litigation fun could go on for years.

Perhaps neither party can see the forest for the trees. Likewise, the media doesn't seem to care what those that are truly affected by the court order think about the matter.

The affected redwood could not be reached for comment as it recovers from its multiple amputations. But, other redwoods were waving their branches to have a word.

One of the amputee's neighboring trees said, "It's not our fault that we have a wide stance. [The amputee] didn't even realize that he was tapping the fence."

Another angry redwood barked, "You can't hug a solar panel!"

A tree in a nearby yard declined to be identified by species, but begrudgingly agreed to be interviewed in shaded profile. It asked, "Look, I'm going out on a limb here, but can't we all just get along?"

The solar panels smugly refused to comment on the case, but did say breezily that they were, "above it all."

A man who lives down the street from the feuding fence jockeys shook his head about the whole debarkle. He said, "I'm going to buy a frickin' Tesla roadster and show both of these yahoos who's the man."