Legend has it the demigod Maui used his fishing net to capture the sun over Haleakala so his mother could dry her tapa cloth. Today the Legislature has a chance to take a lesson from Maui and require new homes statewide to capture the sun to heat water.

The solar roofs bill (SB 644) would greatly increase the efficiency and affordability of new homes built in Hawai'i, moving us closer to a clean energy future.

At 22 degrees latitude, we are blessed with ample sunshine year-round in the Islands. Hawai'i is the Saudi Arabia of sun. On average, each home receives the energy equivalent of 15 gallons of gasoline in the form of pure sunlight on its roof each day.

We all should be putting that sun to work, heating our water and powering our homes. Solar water heating has been a tremendous success story for decades in Hawai'i, reducing the cost of living for homeowners and decreasing the need for fossil fuels. But the sad fact is just over one in five homes in Hawai'i take advantage of this decidedly low-tech energy solution.

Solar water heaters are among the most effective means of reducing the high electricity cost burden that residents now endure. The solar roofs bill will make the cost of living more affordable by slashing the electric utility bill of an average new home by 30 to 40 percent.

It's a boon to the state economy as well, helping to create clean "green collar" jobs locally and reduce the amount of money that leaves the state's economy to buy crude — often from countries who don't share our values.

While bold, the solar roofs measure is not without precedent. Israel has mandated that all new homes in the country come equipped with solar water heaters and now they are standard on some 95 percent of homes. Since January 2007, Spain has required solar water heaters on all new residential construction. Here in Hawai'i, the Navy has been building all of its new residential units with solar thermal.

New homes, of course, are only part of the picture — hundreds of thousands of existing housing units in Hawai'i need to be retrofitted with solar water heaters as well. That's why we want to make sure the 35 percent tax credit is continued (or increased) for existing homes. Since new homes won't be drawing on these solar retrofit incentive funds allocated by the Legislature, more should be available for retrofits.

As with most legislation, the final draft of the measure is a compromise. The measure contains reasonable exceptions to the solar requirement to address some of the concerns from developers and the Gas Company. A waiver can be granted if there is poor solar resource or if a solar water heater will be more costly than an electric heater over time.

If a new home uses an efficient on-demand gas heater and one other gas appliance, such as a gas stove, they can request a waiver from solar (although gas lines are rarely installed in new subdivisions). For the solar industry, this bill contains provisions to codify — in law — standards and quality-assurance criteria that will now govern solar water heater systems statewide. All in all, the solar roofs bill is smart policy, sensibly crafted to smooth a transition toward zero-energy homes of the future.

Rarely does the Legislature have the opportunity to forward a policy that addresses so many needs at once: the need for reduced carbon emissions, the need to reduce the cost of home ownership and the need for good local jobs in the clean energy field.

By following Maui's lead, we can capture the sun and put it to work reducing our dependence on oil. Senate Bill 644 is a solid step toward our preferred clean energy future. We encourage its passage.

Jeffrey Mikulina is director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, and Henk Rogers is the founder of Blue Planet Foundation. They wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.