ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle signed a bill today that would make it mandatory to install solar water heaters in all new single-family homes. The passage of the law would make Hawaii the first state in the country to require solar water heaters. The law will go into effect in 2010 and aims to reduce energy emissions from power plants and to cut down on the Islands energy dependency.

Not all new houses will be forced to have the solar water heaters. There provisions in the bill to allow for exemptions in certain cases. One possibility would be if an engineer or architect finds that solar would be impractical because of insufficient levels of sunshine. A new home would also be exempt if the panels would cost more than would be saved by the lower cost of utility bills. Other renewable energy system could also be put in place, like a gas-demand water heater, instead of the solar heaters.

The bill is part of the states plan to have 70 percent of Hawaii's energy come from clean sources by the year 2030.