Solar Hot Water: A Good Deal that Keeps Getting Better

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/2007-02-01/Solar-Hot-Water-A-Good-Deal-that-Keeps-Getting-Better.aspx

Solar Hot Water: A Good Deal that Keeps Getting Better

Bob Ramlow

The typical American household spends 15 percent to 20 percent of its total energy outlay to make sure the 'H' tap means what it says. That same household can save thousands of dollars over the next 40 years by installing a solar water-heating system.

It costs more to install the solar water heating system, compared to a conventional gas or electric heater, but your home equity will increase instantly, frequently enough to offset installation costs. And it's so much less expensive to operate the solar heater that, at some point, you'll make up the initial difference. At the same time, you'll save more money every time electric or gas rates go up. Many homeowners recover the initial installation expense within a few years. Experts agree, a solar water heater is the easiest initial investment in renewable energy.

Several kinds of solar water heaters exist, and the choice depends primarily on your climate. They all do the same things: gather heat in a solar collector; transfer the heat to the water supply; and store the heated water until it's used. They use simple, proven technology—one reason they're a best bet in renewable energy.

...

[Anywho6]

1. Thank you for the info, OK!

My partner and I have been researching this. Someone on this board recommended going thermal before going to solar electricity because thermal is so much more efficient. We live in the Sacramento Valley so it's an ideal place, I think--for the most part, we have nothing but sunshine from April/May until October/November. Many houses just in our subdivision in Davis have gone solar recently and it's so cool to see that. For years I've been saying that it should be a building requirement on ANY new house in the Sac Valley because we are just wasting a generous resource.

Thanks again!

Peace...

C

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. You're welcome! n/t

[Bobbieo]

3. Solar Hot Water

I've had a panel on my roof for years and it is ideal for Yuma, AZ

[kestrel91316]

4. I live in an apt where I have my own water heater (electric) inside the unit.

So I am paying for hot water, not the landlord. Weird set-up, I know.

Solar hot water will never happen in this building. There's zero incentive for them to make the investment.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Are you signed up for green power?

Every little bit helps...

[kestrel91316]

6. I certainly am! Have been for years. Here in Los Angeles we still

have a publically-owned electricity provider, too - LA DWP. They and the mayor are totally committed to no more coal-fired plants as the existing ones' contracts run out. We are increasing our % of wind power, and they are committed to renewables.

20% by 2010 is the goal:
http://www.metroinvestmentreport.com/mir/?module=displaystory&story_id=403&format=html

Lots of good ideas and projects coming out of DWP:
http://www.ladwp.com/library/statichtml/homepage_greenla.html

[Blue State Blues]

7. Tankless water heaters?

Does anyone know how the solar hot water systems compare to the new "tankless" water heaters?

If the solar system provides only part of the household's hot water, does a conventional system provide the rest? If so, would tankless work with a solar system or is having a tank to store the solar-heated water integral to the design?

[skids]

10. A tank is needed.

...Though the "batch" variety of solar hot water heating system sort
of has the tank built into it. However most of what's available is
panels, and a full system includes a tank for the hot water.

Tankless water heating systems will never be as efficient as solar
hot water. All they do is trim some of the waste from leaking heat
from the tank. Solar hot water systems produce much more heat than
a tank leaks, else they wouldn't work.

[losthills]

8. Solar hot water

should be mandatory for every home in America.

[all.of.me]

9. I installed solar thermal last fall.

I have natural gas back-up, and I have cut my gas bill by more than half. And that is with adding gas heaters in two rooms! The gas hot water heater rarely goes on - only when it's been cloudy for a couple of days. I paid about $7000 for the system, and with increases in gas prices, it should pay for itself in 5 years. It is the most cost effective thing you can do to cut back on fossil fuels.

[amandabeech]

11. Solar hot water heating was very popular during the '70s oil shocks.

There were some problems with certain designs, but my recollection is that they were very helpful in many locations in keeping down natural gas and electric bills.

Now that we use so much natural gas to generate electricity, natgas prices here in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world. Any savings on that end would be helpful in freeing up more gas for other needs, like making nitrogen fertilizer.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. It's been around quite a while actually

http://www.californiasolarcenter.org/history_solarthermal.html

...

...

The shortcomings of the bare tank solar water heaters came to the attention of Clarence Kemp, who sold, in Baltimore, Maryland, the latest home heating equipment. In 1891, Kemp patented a way to combine the old practice of exposing metal tanks to the sun with the scientific principle of the hot box, thereby increasing the tanks' capability to collect and retain solar heat. He called his new solar water heater the Climax - the world's first commercial solar water heater. Kemp originally marketed his invention to eastern gentlemen whose wives had gone off with their maids to summer at some resort, leaving their husbands to fend for themselves. The solar water heater, Kemp advertised, would simplify housekeeping duties for this class of men already burdened by their wives and domestic staffs absence and unaccustomed to such work as lighting the gas furnace or stove to heat water.

...

In California and other such temperate states, having greater amounts of sunshine throughout the year and higher fuel costs (than in places like Maryland) made it essential for residents to take their solar assets seriously and not waste them. The Climax sold well in such areas. Sixteen hundred had gone up in homes throughout Southern California by 1900, including the one installed for Walter van Rossem's mother in Pasadena where three years earlier a third of the households in this California city heated their water with the sun.

...

[amandabeech]

14. Kewl! Thanks for the info. n/t

[Kolesar]

13. No new cloudy-day record for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

A sunny thing happened on the way to a Northeast Ohio gloom record.

For a few luminous moments Friday morning, the sun made a cameo appearance in downtown Cleveland.

The show was brilliant, if brief.

But a Euclid caller claimed to have seen the light for nearly an hour around 9 a.m., and travelers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on the West Side were awash in photons for maybe twice that long.

Officially, the light meter at the National Weather Service registered a full 120 minutes of sunshine on Friday.

Meteorologists, however, were skeptical of the accuracy of the 30-year-old device on their roof and said the numbers might have to be adjusted.

"We think it might have got a little overexcited," said meteorologist Marty Thompson.

And why not? The Friday sunburst broke a string of seven straight days of complete cloudiness in a woeful winter of gray skies.

But it also happened on the very day that we told you that, based on a gray forecast, Cleveland could possibly challenge the record held by Milwaukee of 17 straight gray and sunless days.

Wrong. So we sincerely hope no one suffered any sudden sunburn or permanent eye damage because of the unexpected and unnatural phenomenon.

It's anyone's guess when it will return.


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