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73 Comments
- ivan423, on 07/04/2008, -3/+29Hawaii is in North America?
- jacothedevil, on 07/04/2008, -2/+11this kind of technology, assuming its priced right and efficient, needs to be pushed and promoted at a much faster rate. in california, a solar panel setup will set you back about 15k (including the state and federal subsidies) so it's still kind of pricy, but why not start small and go big later.
- Rotzooi, on 07/04/2008, -2/+11Yeah, it's the set they built for 'Lost'.
- carpespasm, on 07/04/2008, -0/+9If by solar cells you mean photo voltaics then I don't think it'll do much. Solar water heaters and solar electric panels are two different markets using the same power source. Solar water heaters are cheap and easy to produce, so if there's price gouging in that market it's probably gonna drop quick, but I don't think it'll do much for photo voltaic prices.
- dood, on 07/04/2008, -0/+7Solar water heaters don't cost $20K. I think you might have confused solar water heaters with photovoltaic panels (electricity).
http://www.google.com/products?q=solar+water+heate ... - SVOboy, on 07/03/2008, -2/+9I bet that republican, facist governor even has a law saying which side of the road you need to drive on! THE HORROR.
- diggless, on 07/04/2008, -0/+7a good solar heater collector can heat the glycol mixture above the boiling point of water. If the water wasnt able to melt your skin off then someone has done something wrong.
People seem to mix up a poor installation or maintenance with a flawed technology.
just get a black garden hose and fill it with water and set it in the sun for about an hour and then drain the water onto your skin, then tell me that heating water with the sun doesnt work. - Rotzooi, on 07/04/2008, -1/+7Keep repeating how 'free' you are, I can hear your masters laughing from here.
- Beatmiser, on 07/04/2008, -0/+6I live in Hawaii and have a solar water heater. I can tell you that it's great. Only time I don't like it is in our 'winter' which is just a rainy season where we can go for a week without sun. Nothing like waking up to a cold shower. Good news is though that even with a solar water heater you can in fact turn on the electricity for the heat if need be.
- diggless, on 07/04/2008, -0/+6you dont have to have it serviced every year unless you dont know how to use a screwdriver. and if it cost you 250 bucks you were being royally screwed over.
if it wasnt saving you gas usage then there was something wrong. typically homes see a 40-75 percent decrease in gas usage. And with energy costs rising it makes more sense every day.
if it can heat a swimming pool why cant it heat your water? I fail to see how it would be good at heating pool water and bad at heating potable water? - Mahoney07, on 07/04/2008, -6/+12You think the Government should force solar power cell companies to do things? That's a horrible idea. We live in the land of the free.
- FuryOfThor, on 07/03/2008, -7/+13Sweet! Should put more pressure on solar companies to make cheaper cells, not that they aren't working on it already.
- johnpaul191, on 07/04/2008, -1/+6Yeah! the same jerks that won't let us fill our walls with asbestos fibers! Who do they think they are!
- secrity, on 07/04/2008, -0/+5How much did the photovoltaic installation cost? What is the payback time? Solar water heating is reasonably cheap to install when building a new house and the technology is fairly mature; photovoltaics are quite expensive.
- relic180, on 07/04/2008, -0/+5In areas that this becomes mandated, new solar water heater producers will enter the market to fill the increasing demand. Because it's a legal requirement, the majority of the market should be drawn to less expensive models and to stay competitive companies will lower prices in an attempt to lure business away from the other guys.
So, mandating this should effectively lower the price of units. If you figure the actual energy savings into the mix, and rising cost of natural gas and oil, the long term price increase becomes negligible if not actually lower than with traditional heating appliances. - gavinhudson, on 07/04/2008, -4/+8Go Hawaii!
- SolarPandaBot, on 07/04/2008, -3/+7This is great news, though I'm surprised free market forces haven't already made this the de facto case. Hawaii has the nation's highest electricity rates (I've heard up to 30 cents/kWh in some areas) and is almost completely dependent on oil for its generation. With that in mind, solar hot water seems to be a no brainer for any home on the islands
- york2600, on 07/04/2008, -0/+4We're talking solar hot water heaters not photovoltaic panels aka solar panels. Solar hot water heaters don't use the "panels" you're referring to. We're talking simple old
- EatingPie, on 07/04/2008, -6/+9This should also be mandated in Southern California. And instead of just water heaters, it should be electricity generation -- and you can actually run your meter backwards by routing excess electricity you generate back into the grid. There's a veritable sea of rooftops cooking in the sun over here.
So why aren't we doing this? With all the talk about "alternative energy" from both candidates, this would be an awesome program the government could subsidize, and it could be done immediately. The only drawback is that its benefits vary per region.
-Pie - relic180, on 07/04/2008, -1/+4@avenging
excessive energy consumption is bad. Bad for everybody in one way or another. Solar water heaters are 100% up front with minimal maintenance costs and zero energy costs. Realistically, not only is it immensely better for the planet, and for our national energy dependence situation, but it's actually also better economically after (I haven't done the math so I'm estimating) just a couple years.
Your ONLY real objection would be that you don't like being told what to do, and would rather chose the short-sighted and self-center resolution just for the principle of the matter. - ausfahrt, on 07/04/2008, -5/+8Free to gouge consumers and make billions furthering the gap between people in a land where they are supposed to be treated as equals.
- FeartheKnighted, on 07/04/2008, -1/+4Just so there is no mix up, these don't work by using solar cells. Solar water heaters are MUCH more efficient than that, taking the heat from the sun and using it to directly heat the water. Basically, it's like putting a big tub of water on your roof.
An added benefit is it keeps your house a little cooler since heat that normally would go directly into your house is absorbed by the water first, then gets flushed down the drain. - relic180, on 07/04/2008, -1/+4You obviously haven't the slightest clue about how many hundreds of restrictions they already put on new construction and have since any of us have been alive. Even more on commercial property.
Just one more, especially one that is in such an obviously positive direction, is hardly fascist. But at least you've made it crystal clear just how willing you are to cherry pick your objectionable topics. - detokaal, on 07/04/2008, -0/+3A bunch of lawmakers just made a fortune in stock options and campaign donations.
- inactive, on 07/04/2008, -2/+5You're all a bunch of hypocrites and to stupid to be able to tell why
- poidh, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2Ah yes, the evil NeoCons! But even they are not as bad as the Zionist Cabal, the Illuminati and the New World Order lying to us about 9/11. AIEEEEEEEE!
- WillyWonka, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2Benefit in Hawaii. In Alaska losing that heat down the drain would be a different story :)
- 3pair, on 07/04/2008, -2/+4solar hot water heating doesn't cost 15-20k to install.... heating is way less expensive then PV, and I think that's where some readers are getting confused. A solar hot water heater essentially just absorbs the heat from your roof and uses it to heat your hot water. It even says in the article that the cost increase for a new home will only be around 2-5k depending on rebates.
- jpop, on 07/04/2008, -2/+4While it's a good idea in a energy crunch situation, who wants to bet the governor will be the last one to have a solar water heater installed? I notice it only applies to new housing in a down market.
- chopsky, on 07/04/2008, -3/+5Mahoney is on the money.
- lordmike, on 07/04/2008, -3/+5I experienced solar water heaters staying in cheap hotels around the mediterranean sea... The sun there is fiercely hot there, and yet, you would be lucky not to freeze your balls off taking a shower. The only chance you had for a possibly lukewarm shower would be to bathe at 4 in the afternoon... at that point, it would be warm enough that your balls would not fall off, instead merely retreating for protective cover deep inside your abdomen where it would require several jumping jacks after your shower to dislodge them. I can see why folks in the area did not bathe frequently.. it was an Guantanimo-like ordeal to maintain any sort of cleanliness with solar water heaters. Granted, the technology has hopefully improved since then, but there is no way you will get any hot water at night if you use up the tank's store... I certainly hope the governor allows for a backup water heating option for people...
- teabagginz, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2go bruddah lingle
- thinsoldier, on 07/04/2008, -1/+3Hawaii:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=h ...
....not so sure it's actually in "North America". - Kruchbaum, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2Hes talking about the price of installing a solar water heater and hes correct. Its only $2000-$5000 dollars. And yes I do live in hawaii, and I know a lot about the housing market.
- Urzeitlich, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2I'm not sure to digg or bury you.
- RomeyRome, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2It's your responsibility to close your own gap. Not the government's or any one company. Ausfahrt must be an Obama supporter.
- aspec, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2No, you're doing fine. But now everyone is evil. And generally, it's easier to pick just one of the subsections of a party. I've found that if you just say "Neocons" no one questions you, mostly because it just sounds evil.
- diggless, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2why not use both?
can you quantify your idea that its a waste of resources? and also substantiate that a tankless heater by itself is better than a solar heater with a tankless. - cyrax04, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Couldn't have said it better steve. If you need some econ help greenm head over to www.mises.org
- Pixelpaws, on 07/04/2008, -1/+2This is a really poor tradeoff. Forcing people to pay several thousand dollars extra for something like this is not going to help the sinking economy right now. Considering how often water heaters generally need to be replaced, the consumer is never going to reach a break even point. It just makes living there even more prohibitively expensive.
- PoisonousDrool, on 07/04/2008, -2/+3My previous house came with a solar water heater (Texas). It was a huge waste of money. You have to pay to have it serviced every year or so ($80-$250). There was an additional cost when we had our roof replaced. Home insurance costs more. In summer, it didn't save any gas for the water heater because the gas company has a minimum charge per month. We sold the house and the new owners had it removed (they were smarter than me). They might be a good idea to heat a swimming pool, but they won't save you any money heating water.
- beauley, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
Solar Power, Source of Endless Energy - lamech, on 07/04/2008, -1/+2And where they filmed Gilligan's Island, Magnum PI, Baywatch Hawaii and Jurassic Park. It also happens to be where I live, but in an apartment building that has been using solar power for water heating for years.
- avengingturnip, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1@relic
My very real concern is that there are so many people who have no qualms telling other people what to do. - relic180, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1You should expect dismissive comments like mine when you throw around words like 'fascist' to address your water heater rights. Especially someone involved in construction who should know full well the extensive list of regulations already imposed on new construction.
- Beatmiser, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1Actually most contractors here in Hawaii have been doing it for the last 5-10 years. Lingle assuredly already has one.
- relic180, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1For example, people telling me that I have to live with, and respect, willfully ignorant people with no sense of social belonging, only a self indulgent indifference to those around them?
Yes, believe me I have qualms. - teabagginz, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1i live in town and walk to work everyday. i've only walked maybe a week out of the year where it was cloudy/rainy, otherwise it's sunny as a mofo!
- Yookji, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1relic, the prices are so high because it's such a (relatively) new technology and a percentage of the cost has to pay for research and development. While solar power and solar water heaters are not cost effective in most of the United States, they are cost effective in the southwest and Hawaii.
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