Hybrid Swimming Pool Heater Act

January 2008

At least nine states are currently deliberating legislation that would mandate the installation of a solar pool heating system if and when a fossil fuel heater is installed on a swimming pool. States considering the proposed "Hybrid Swimming Pool Heater Act" include California (which recently passed Bill AB32, requiring all state operated swimming pools to be evaluated for solar pool heating), Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Municipalities across the country are also considering the benefits of hybrid systems for local pools, like Chilmark, Mass. near Martha's Vineyard; during a town meeting this past October, voters overwhelmingly approved to amend the town bylaws to require pools to be heated by "a solar thermal, a geothermal or an alternative, non-polluting system."

Typically, Hybrid Pool Heating Systems use solar as the primary heat source with a conventional heater in reserve. The water is pre-heated by the solar system before it reaches the conventional heater, reducing or eliminating the energy requred for fossil fuel heating.

The bottom line? Your customers have either become accustomed to or have always desired renewable energy solutions for pool heating. Using the free energy of the sun, combined with the convenience of anytime heat from a fossil fuel heater, a Hybrid pool heating sysytem is the ultimate pool heating solution.