Note: Solar Adoption here represents the proportion of units using solar out of total units, based on the available information from census.
Data Source: American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau.
Analysis by CEC Economics
Highlights
- In 2023, about 174,000 households in California used solar as the main heating fuel,125 up 7.5% from 2022 compared to the 14.8% growth year-over-year nationwide. California had the second-highest share of households in which solar was the main heating fuel (1.3%) among the 50 states, behind only Hawaii (4.8%). Nationwide, the number of households with solar as the main heating fuel was near the half a million mark in 2023 (486,000), and for every three such households, one resides in California.126
- On a year-over-year basis, fellow sunny states such as Florida and Texas have had a significant surge in demand for solar energy (growing 42.8% and 25.6%, respectively), although solar adoption rates (0.7% and 0.3%, respectively) are overall still much lower than California. These trends illustrate the continued expansion of the solar energy market across various regions of the country, with both populous and less-populous states demonstrating a growing interest in this sustainable and environmentally friendly energy source.
125 “Active Solar Heating.” U.S. Department of Energy. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/active-solar-heating
126 If Puerto Rico is included, then the number of households with solar as the main heating fuel would be just over half a million (503,000).
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