Shift Key Classic: California’s Rooftop Solar Question

S3E20 - Shift Key Classic: California’s Rooftop Solar Question

Published: December 31, 2025

Duration: 1:04:33

​​Shift Key is off for the holidays, but we hope you’ll enjoy this classic episode.


Rooftop solar is four times more expensive in America than it is in other countries. It’s also good for the climate. Should we even care about its high cost?


Yes, says Severin Borenstein, an economist and the director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. In a 2024 blog post, he argued that the high cost of rooftop solar will shift nearly $4 billion onto the bills of low- and middle...