Hawai'i forward thinking has helped them become the first place in North America to pass new laws which mandates that new housing have solar water heaters. The law is hailed by environmentalists, who say solar heaters are not only environmentally friendly, they save consumers money. The law says a building permit cannot be issued for a new single-family structure that does not include a solar water heater system meeting certain standards.
A typical cost for solar water heaters installed in a new home is $5,000 to $6,000, and in Hawaii a home owner would save around $750 a year on their electric bill. So the system should pay for itself within 10 years.
From the environmental standpoint, the law will reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 8,000 tons annually from avoided electricity use, according to the Blue Planet Foundation, which aims to make Hawai'i energy independent. It sounds like great news for home owners, who will be paying less for utilities, and for the environment. But why then are there concerns in the solar heating and building industries.
Well first off the rebates offered by HECO and tax credits by the state are no longer available due to the law. People in the industry are worried about that cost being passed on to homeowners, when more builders were already starting to offer solar water heaters as a standard feature. Solar businesses are also worried about the loophole that will allow home owners to install a tankless gas water heater with another gas appliance instead of solar. We will have to wait and see if this concern is valid, but from what I can tell the state and power company plans to watch the situation carefully and only intend to allow no solar on very few developments.
The worry about the costs being passed on is easily dismissed. There will be no extra cost to the homeowners when one looks at the lifecycle costs of the house. Developers and builders rarely look at the lifecycle costs and any price increase that they are forced to pass on to the consumers naturally makes them nervous. When a solar water heater is able to pay for itself in less than 10 years and has a 20+ year lifespan, it’s the homeowner who comes out ahead. Not to mention that the price for solar water heaters will also start to come down due to economies of scale. And as far as some developers claim that the law was unnecessary, due to the amount of companies starting to offer it as a standard feature, is just them worrying about profit margins and at being forced into doing things differently than what they are used to. Without the law in place there would be no way for Hawaii as a state to ensure that they will be taking huge strides in the effort to become sustainable.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=7979f1bb-aab4-40b2-8f85-749621466773)