selfnews staff writer On Orchid Island, the latest greeting between hotel operators is 'Have you solar paneled yet? ' This is because more and more inns and hostels on the island have begun to install cost-saving and environmentally-friendly solar panel water heating systems, sparking a trend that environmentalists hope will spread across Taiwan. Located off Taiwan's southeast coast in the Pacific Ocean, the island famous for its aboriginal culture and picturesque scenery now has a higher percentage of hotels with solar panel hot-water systems than any other area in Taiwan. So far, 10 out of the 52 hotels and hostels there have installed solar water heaters. Hoteliers on the remote island never imagined they could help limit greenhouse gases, or save the planet. 'We don't have much here, except sunshine and the wind, which are endlessly available,' said Chen Tsung-yue, operator of Yueshiuan Hotel. Taking advantage of the strong and long durations of sunshine on the island, Chen was one of the first hotel owners to install a solar hot water system on his hostel's roof, at a cost of about NT$60,000 (US$2,000). 'I recouped the investment in just one year,' he said. Others on Orchid Island soon followed in his footsteps, and the trend is also catching on elsewhere in Taiwan. Central Taiwan's Nantou County has the greatest number of solar-powered water heaters in the country and the highest percentage of households with solar water heaters, mainly because almost all the homes rebuilt after the devastating Sept. 21, 1999 earthquake were equipped with solar water heaters. Nationwide, 5 percent of all households have installed the devices, ranking Taiwan third behind Israel and Cyprus, according to the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Part of the reason for Taiwan's relatively high installation rate is that in 2000 the Bureau of Energy initiated a generous program offering incentives and subsidies to households to install solar water heaters, and 440,000 homes around the country have put in the devices since then. The 5 percent installation rate in Taiwan is equivalent to a savings of 5 million 20-kilogram containers of liquefied gas that are not consumed, or a reduction of 370,000 tons of carbon dioxide, according to Bureau chief Yeh Hui- ching. 'It is expected that there will be 20 percent coverage of all homes with water- heating solar panels by 2020, with subsidies rising by 50 percent from this year,' Yeh said. The subsidy now averages NT$10,800 for a heater capable of generating hot water for a family of 4-5 persons, or solar collectors of an area of 4.8 square meters, compared to NT$7,200 since 2000. Besides hotels and homes, some businesses in Taiwan are also joining the trend. The Fugi Educational Park located in south-central Yunlin County -- known for its exclusively Buddhist education of youths and its devotion to promoting organic diets and green life -- has been one of the major users of solar water heaters in Taiwan. According to Chuang Chao-chin, the head of Fugi's construction engineering task force, the institution has had 11 solar water heating systems installed so far since the school's inception in 2003 at a total cost of NT$13.75 million. 'The hot water has been limitlessly available in dormitories for about 1,000 students, faculty and volunteers, ' Chuang said. 'Even during peak shower hours in winter time, there was a sufficient supply of hot water without ever hitting a snag.' 'The investment in the installation was paid back in three years,' a contented Chuang said. The Bureau of Energy has encouraged the installation of solar water heaters in part because of geography. Taiwan's latitude -- between 22XN and 25XN -- is ideal for transforming the sun's rays into electricity and has made solar thermal energy the most widely used form of renewable energy in the country. The solar water heating industry has also matured, with every phase of the installation, from know-how to equipment and materials, developed and sourced locally, said K. C. Chang, a professor at National Cheng Kung University in the southern city of Tainan. But whether solar water heaters can become more popular and widely used in Taiwan depends on climate conditions, population structure, urbanization, building types and the status of new construction, according to Chang, who is also the principal investigator of NCKU's Research and Development Foundation, which has been authorized by the bureau to oversee the application of solar water heaters in the country. Chang and his investigative team found that solar water heating systems are popular in Taiwan's central and southwestern regions, mainly because sunshine duration there is longer, and there are many more individual bungalows or terraced houses with flat roofs in the regions than in northern Taiwan, which make installation easier. Solar water heaters have gained less traction in the north because of the many high-rise residential buildings and relatively lower sunshine duration. Taiwan's government has not done enough to promote the application of solar water heating systems on the island, said Chen Fu-yung, chairman of the Taiwan Solar Energy Development Association, a nonprofit group of solar water heater installers and dealers. Compared to Israel, in which installation of solar water heaters is mandatory, Germany, where installations grew at an 84 percent rate in 2008, and Spain, where the installation rate was up 67 percent last year, Taiwan has lagged far behind, Chen said. He said that during a national energy conference held in April, officials and specialists devoted a lot of time to the further expansion of wind power generation and the development of solar photovoltaic energy in Taiwan. It is unrealistic, however, to talk about developing wind power generation at present with each wind turbine unit having to be imported at a cost of NT$100 million. 'It would only benefit the foreign suppliers and dealers, ' he contended. 'Why doesn't the government pay greater attention to the solar water heating system sector, whose know-how is mature and related materials available domestically thanks to Taiwan's well-developed high-tech industries. Also, solar water heating systems are inexpensive compared with wind and photovoltalic energy, ' Chen noted. The administration should live up to its promise to have 140,000 more solar water heating systems installed nationwide in the next four years, Chen said. 'The installation plan should begin in public facilities, such as schools, prisons, fire departments, police stations, and military establishments -- places with vast spaces and flat roofs that are ideal for solar panels,' he suggested. To bolster the popularity of solar water heaters in northern Taiwan, particularly in the Taipei metropolitan area, the government will also need to develop new strategies. In eastern Taiwan, it needs to address the problem of typhoons, which can destroy the roof-top equipment, Chen added. 