Solar Hot Water Set To Go Mainstream with California's AB 1470

[jpak]

http://www.renewableaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=50298

It's a technology that has been used in California in one form or another since the 1800s. But, like its photovoltaic counterpart, solar hot water heating in the state is about to ramp up production in a big way with the signing of bill AB 1470 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last week.

Known as The Solar Water and Heating Efficiency Act of 2007, the new legislation is designed to create a broad market for solar water heating technologies by offering $250 million in rebates for the state's consumers over the next ten years.

The rebate fund would come from a $0.13 per month surcharge on gas bills and be implemented by the California Public Utilities Commission and individual municipal utilities.

"The goal of the program is to install 200,000 hot water systems on businesses and homes throughout state of California, see reduction in price and similar to the California Solar Initiative that we passed last year—to support solar electric technologies—the vision of this program is to create a mainstream market for solar water heating technologies as well," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate for Environment California, during an interview with Inside Renewable Energy host Stephen Lacey.

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[XemaSab]

1. How do these things work?

How much do they cost? And what happens if it's cloudy? :shrug:

[jpak]

2. How do they work? Like this...

http://www.southface.org/solar/solar-roadmap/solar_how-to/solar-how_solar_works.htm

How much do they cost?

Between $3-9K depending on make and size. DYI batch systems cost much less.

What happens if it's cloudy?

They still operate on cloudy days and have storage tanks to provide hot water at night...

[XemaSab]

3. Thanks

Sorry to ask the dum-dum questions, but how else do we learn? :)

[diane in sf]

4. As a citizen of CA I will be happy to pay the $.13 surcharge every month.