Yesterday state utility regulators approved a new California Solar Initiative Thermal Program that will offer $350 million in rebates to encourage it’s residents to install water-heating systems powered by solar energy.

Funding for this program is broken down into three areas, with $250 million to replace natural gas powered water heaters and an additional $25 million set aside for low income residents.  Additional monies to the tune of $100.8 million will be used to fund the exchange of electrically powered water heaters.  Federal tax credits are also available and can be coupled with the state rebates for 30% of the value of new water heaters.

This is a big step towards replacing dated systems that displace 585 million therms of natural gas and 275.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity in a year.  This is clearly a tipping point for California residents who might have been hesitant to previously install a new system. 

Solar water heaters are typically placed on rooftops and utilize the sun’s energy to warm water that is stored in a water tank, but the price tag is steep.  These new residential solar systems cost between $6,500 and $8,000.  Homeowners replacing their systems are eligible to receive a state refund of up to $1,500.  Not an easy thing to do here in a state with little economic growth.

According to Environment California the new rebate can create more than three thousand jobs and decrease wholesale natural-gas prices by 35%.  The program's goal is to boost the state’s solar water heating market as well as meeting the demand of training a new installation workforce.  

Once again California is leading the pack in reducing energy use.  Currently the states residents use the same amount of electricity per capita that they did 30 years ago. This is remarkable considering the exponential increase in the number of electronic devices used by the average citizen over the last 3 decades.  Clearly conserving energy is cheaper and smarter than building power plants.  With the abundant numbers of naysayers to all government initiatives and mandates the state has implemented, we have clearly seen a substantial savings for consumers and the planet.