Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed muscles on Monday when he signed the Solar Power Bill that aims to make sunny Californi-yay (yes, this writer happens to like the Beach Boys) one of the world's biggest producers of solar energy.

Solar systems are said to be capable of reducing greenhouse gases tantamount to taking 1 million cars off highways. If the bill is well implemented, California would be the third biggest producer of solar energy after Japan and Germany.

Approval of the bill entails the installation of 1 million rooftop solar panels on homes, businesses, farms, schools and public buildings by 2018. The said bill would require $2.9 billion to be fully implemented. This has already been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission last January. The money that will be used for the implementation of this law will come from funds already allotted for solar energy and from gas and electric utility rates.

The new law, beginning 2011, requires builders to offer solar power not only to home buyers but also to municipally-owned utilities, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the largest publicly owned utility in the United States.