This is 1 ranking Of the 10 communities in the country that have the highest percentage of solar-heated homes, eight are in Hawaii, according to the 2000 census.
where Hawaii shines
Isle towns dominate the nation's
The list
top 10 list for solar heat at homeStar-Bulletin staff and news reports
While Eldorado, N.M., leads the country with 13.2 percent of its homes heated by solar power, Oahu's Ewa Villages and Maui's Lahaina ranked second and third. In Ewa Villages, 9 percent of homes use solar heating, while 8.5 percent do in Lahaina.
Hawaiian Electric's solar specialist, Ron Richmond, said about 65,000 homes, including the military housing projects in Hawaii, have solar water-heating devices installed.
"That's the highest number of solar water heaters per capita compared to any other state," he said.
Richmond credits the combination of the state's solar tax credit and HECO's rebate program with helping to popularize solar.
In addition, many of Hawaii's new home developments now have solar options available, or homes come already installed with the devices, he said.
HECO spokesman Fred Kobashikawa notes that former President Clinton's Million Solar Roofs initiative announced in 1997 set a goal of installing 1 million solar roofs on U.S. government buildings by 2010.
By 1999, Hawaii federal facilities had installed 1,448 solar roofs with another 1,000 planned. Of these, 1,350 solar water-heating systems were installed on Navy family housing units.
Of the 10,000 solar systems registered that were associated with the Clinton initiative, 8,732, or 88 percent, are located in Hawaii.
The communities cited in the 2000 census report appear to be remnants of a stalled movement with its roots in the 1970s. According to the census, the number of U.S. homes heated primarily by solar energy fell to 47,069 a decade later from 54,536 in 1990.
Federal and many state tax credits for solar homes have long since dried up, and some suggest that poorly designed homes have hurt solar power's reputation. The movement also has been hurt by the growing availability of natural gas.
In Eldorado the desert heat is sizzling, yet Fred and Barbara Raznick stay cool inside their solar-powered adobe home without air conditioning or ceiling fans.
The south side of the home is covered with windows that let sunlight in during the winter and keep it out in the summer.
"You kind of feel like the house takes care of you," Raznick said.
In New Mexico, with its often cloudless winter sky, hundreds of solar homes have been built in and around Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Los Alamos and Taos.
Solar homes are active or passive or both. The Raznicks heat their home with a passive solar system, which does not use pumps or fans to move hot air or hot water around the house. Their water is heated by an active system that uses solar panels on the roof.
Sunshine heats the tile floors and interior walls, including waist-high heat-absorbing masonry walls about a foot from the windows. The interior surfaces radiate the heat, much like a sidewalk on a summer evening, and the 2-feet-thick walls provide enough insulation to keep the home warm -- or cool.
The cost for solar heating, electrical and water-heating systems varies widely based on location, the home's size, type of appliances and how much electricity family members use.
Dorothy Schoech and Elizabeth Barnes moved to a solar home built here in 1993. Schoech said "it's the only way to do it" -- no furnace groaning, no hot air from a fan blowing on her.
"You should take advantage of it on principle," she said. "You're not using our limited natural resources."
Star-Bulletin reporter Lyn Danninger and
the Associated Press contributed to this report.BACK TO TOP |
The 10 places with populations of more than 1,000 that have the highest percentages of homes heated mostly by solar energy, according to the 2000 census: Top 10 U.S. spots
for solar heating>> Eldorado, N.M., 13.2 percent, 317 homes
>> Ewa Villages, Hawaii, 9 percent, 105 homes
>> Lahaina, Hawaii, 8.5 percent, 223 homes
>> Placitas, N.M., 6.1 percent, 91 homes
>> Kekaha, Hawaii, 5.8 percent, 62 homes
>> Kalaheo, Hawaii, 4.5 percent, 64 homes
>> Waihee-Waiehu, Hawaii, 4.4 percent, 82 homes
>> Pukalani, Hawaii, 4.3 percent, 105 homes
>> Lihue, Hawaii, 4.3 percent, 96 homes
>> Maili, Hawaii, 3.7 percent, 51 homes
