Two campuses of the Health Alliance Hospital in New York State are using solar energy to heat water and improve public safety, U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey's office announced this week.

Hinchey helped secure financing for the solar projects. Health Alliance Hospital's Benedictine campus will soon benefit from a solar-thermal system designed to heat water with the help of the sun; exterior signs will be illuminated by solar-powered lighting at the Benedictine and Kingston campuses.

The projects will use locally produced components as much as possible, Hinchey's office noted. Solar companies have gotten a toehold in New York, and as they supply projects in the state they can continue to grow and create jobs.

"We've already created 400 jobs, and by the end of next year we expect that number to be up near 1,000," Hinchey said of the New York solar industry.

Despite the Empire State's cloudy skies and long winters, solar water heaters can be an effective investment. Residential energy costs are among the nation's highest - electricity averaged 17.8 cents per kilowatt-hour last year, and oil and gas prices have risen steadily in the past decade - and solar-thermal systems can help keep energy spending down.