Solar Water Heating

Solar Water Heating has a lot of potential and it's a shame the US is not further along. In Israil 90% houses use solar for water heating. Tax breaks during the 1973 Energy Crises increased the number of solar water heating in the US, but after these tax breaks expired in the 1980's, the US industry collapsed.

If you go to Scotty's Castle in Death Valley California you will see a solar installation for heating water. Now it seems strange, that a place built in the 1920's would use Solar. It turns out that Solar was very popular in California up to about 1947 with over 1/3rd of houses in Pasadena (home of the Rose Parade) using solar heating. In the 1920's the discovery of Natural Gas ended new installations of Solar Water Heaters in California. In the late 40's, electricity became cheaper and thus ended widespread use of Solar Water Heading in Florida, outside of pools. If you drive around houses built in the late 1970's, you will still see some solar water heaters.

My opinion is the US in areas that make sense should continue tax incentives and/or require new buildings to use Solar Water Heaters. Federal Solar Water Installationax incentives of $2000 maximum of up to 30% of an installation have lapsed. It's a great way to reduce use of Natural Gas.

A brief look at the Economics of installing a Solar Water Heater and how long the cost is amortized. Installation costs seem to be around $7500 and reduces the heating bill by 50-80%. So payback would be 8-10 years assuming yearly savings of $750.

Solar Water Heating

21 page Report from National Renewable Energy Laboratory on Solar Water Heating from March 2007.

Key Quote:

Use of solar water heating (SWH) in the United States grew significantly in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as a result of increasing energy prices and generous tax credits. Since 1985, however, expiration of federal tax credits and decreased energy prices have virtually eliminated the U.S. market for SWH.

Key Information:

• Solar Water Heating reduces water heating by 60%
• Electric and Gas Heaters only last 10-15 years (so potential to replace them).
• SWH is a significant opportunity to reduce use of gas & electrity for heating water.

Article that I was looking for more information on that helped me find the report Solar water heating pays off in Hawaii

Solar Water Heaters in Barbados

Solar energy the way to go. With solar water heating, it's challenging to figure out the status around the world. I read articles and use some common sense. What Barbados has done is use income tax reductions as a way to push Solar Water Heating. This makes a lot of sense as a way to reduce imports and balance of trade.

After some searching, more information: Promotion of Solar Water Heating Systems.
Ministry of Finance, which enabled manufacturers to import materials duty-free, and provide consumers with partial or full tax deductions forthe cost of the heaters. Retail is $US2000. Saves $US 6.5 million per year in imported fuel and consumers $US 16 million.

Another Article: Solar: Guy with off grid house, Bamboula Haven Eco Study whatsis.

Key points:

• 2 Year payback.
• 70% of Government buildings use solar heating.
• 40% of homes use it.

Solar in Uganda

Time to go for solar energy - letter to the editor saying Uganda should go Solar. I would suggest using Solar heating, because it makes economic sense. Using solar for generating electricity at this time usually does not make sense for most applications. Of course it depends on the cost of existing power, are the lines already run (cost money), and the stability of existing supplies. It may make more sense because of a poor infrastructure to go with solar.

In Egypt, there is a group installing free Solar Water heaters in the slums of Cairo. Article from NPR In Cairo Slum, the Poor Spark Environmental Change. I believe that Solar Water Heating should spread more because of the cost of gas/fuel for heating water. All a solar water heating set up needs is black plastic and some pipes. My grandfather built one from scratch years ago for an above ground pool he had.

Solar Water Heaters required in Hawaii

Solar water heaters required in new Hawaii homes from the Houston Chronicle starting in 2010 and add $5000 to the cost. The payback period is about 3-5 years. For new houses construction, I am surprised adds that much to the cost. Hawaii is the first state to mandate solar water heating. I expect more states where it makes sense (South West US) to mandate it. Currently there is $2500 rebate for solar water heating installations in Hawaii. Some of the horse trading that went on to get it - House uses strong-arm tactics on solar mandate

Solar Water Heaters - WSJ Missed them

The Wall Street Journal had a special section on energy, and in that section an article, Alternative State, on what Hawaii is doing. And the article mentioned nothing about how Hawaii is requiring all new homes to have Solar Water Heaters! From the NY Times Hawaii: Solar Water Heaters Become a Legal Requirement It's not a very sexy or high tech method, but it works. I have done 10 or so posts on Solar Water Heating, interesting history.

Solar Water Heating

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are all subsidizing solar water heaters.

South Africa is having a lot installed. New Zealand seems to have some regulatory issues with red tape that is making installation a headache.

This will be interesting to watch and see how this progresses. A Chinese manufacture can make a solar water heater for under $200. Currently Israel and Cypress have the most solar water heaters per capita, with Barbados in third place.

What If - Carter's Energy Policy

President Carter in popular culture was not a great President. The high point was the Camp David accords, and the low point the 444 days of the hostage crises. Most polls put him around number 25 out of the 43 Presidents. I admire his work with Habitat for Humanity.

An often overlooked effort was President Carter led efforts for conservation including installing solar on the White House. Unfortunately President Reagan removed it, my guess is more symbolic of the change that was the Reagan revolution. The price of oil fell 75%, and the immediate emergency and sense of urgency was gone. Other conservation measures and funding for alternate energy sources were also removed. I personally appreciate the 55 Speed Limit going, but the gas it saved was good between 1974 and 1984 reduced usage by 2.2%.

It's sad that funding had not continued for his energy policy. Think where we would be today if it had!

His ten principles that guided his energy policy:

The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.

The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems -- wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.

The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.

The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.

The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.

The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.

The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.

The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can't continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.

The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.

A sad quote, talking about the reductions by the new administration in the Solar Programs:

"In June or July of 1981, on the bleakest day of my professional life, they descended on the Solar Energy Research Institute, fired about half of our staff and all of our contractors, including two people who went on to win Nobel prizes in other fields, and reduced our $130 million budget by $100 million," recalls Denis Hayes, the founder of Earth Day, who had been hired by Carter to spearhead the solar initiative.

And from the same article talking about what happened when the Carter tax credits for solar water heating went away (and showing why President Carter's 8th Principle of consistency is so important):

"The solar water heating industry instantly went from a billion-dollar industry to an industry that now installs, in the U.S., about 6,000 solar hot water heaters a year," said Noah Kaye, spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

United States solar energy production compared to the rest of the world 1997 vs. 2007. The solar industry in the US went into a recession after President Carter left office, until recently.

Solar Water Heating - 20 Years Later

Pioneering solar neighborhood struggles to keep up with times - many home owners stopped taking care of their solar water heaters, especially when the storage tank made out of fiberglass cracked. My guess is low natural gas prices contributed. And now many of them probably wished the solar water heaters were working with the higher price of natural gas. For the tankless water heater mentioned, they are not cheap...

Solar Ready - What this means

Good article. Homes can be built ready for solar power

Key Points on houses that are not solar ready:

• There's often no place for the equipment to be installed (the inverter, wiring, for solar water heating the piping)
  
• It will be difficult and more expensive to put in the wiring and the piping
• The great financial benefit of including the solar system in the initial financing will be lost.
• If the house is not solar ready, solar usually won't be installed.
• Solar needs a south facing roof with no obstacles (chimney, etc.) within 30 degrees.

Since when a house is built making it solar ready is a minimum cost, it's surprising it's not required that new houses be built that are solar ready. For both water and electricity.

Solar Water Heaters - Doing it right

Solar water heaters growing in power-hungry Burkina Faso

Key Points:

• Reduces deforestation.
• Local people taught by NGO how to build solar water heaters.
• Win win for all involved.
  

Build Your Own Solar Water Heater

This article Solar water heater saves energy, money reminded me of my Grandfather. He built a solar water heater for his pool. He was a mechanic for PanAm and very good on making things work.

LA Solar Plan

Villaraigosa unveils solar plan for city of L.A. from the LA Times.

DWP, who provides power to LA does it super cheap currently with it's own power plants, including some coal burning ones. DWP escaped the deregulation fiasco that drove up so many other costs, since it was allowed to keep it's own power plants. It will be interesting to see the financial analysis of this. Personally, I would push Solar Water Heating since it's more cost effective, but, not as glamerous. Survivability of tax breaks in this time of severe economic pain. I hope they are kept, since the more energy the US produces for itself the better.

What would be nice is to make a list of energy projects for the City of LA, and see which ones get the most bang for the buck. Solar Photovoltaic, Green Buildings, effective public transit (don't get me started on the MTA), solar water heating, or ?

Top Ten Misconceptions about Solar Hot Water

Top Ten Misconceptions about Solar Hot Water focusing on Seattle. Nice list. What was not mentioned was the high cost of a tankless water heater. Cost for installing is $7000 average and there is a $2000 tax credit from the Federal Government. Washington State also does not charge sales tax on solar water heater equipment till 2011.

Carter Era White House Solar Water Heater

President Reagan had it removed, which I thought was not a great idea.

But this has some interesting information I did not know.

It's time to green this old (White) House - again The Associated Press

In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter installed a $30,000 solar water-heating system designed to save $1,000 a year in heating costs. It didn't really work.

"Talk to anyone who worked in the West Wing then, and they would say they washed their hands with cool water," said former chief usher Gary Walters, who spent 37 years at the White House before retiring two years ago.

Solar Water Heater History & Update

Nice article about the history of the Solar Water Heater and currently which nation is using them substantially and why. Workhorse of the Solar Industry

Solar Water Heating

Article from New Zealand on Solar Water Heating - All Power to the solar industry. The challenge to getting more installations seems to be the red tape (approvals) that are required for installations.

Solar Power Water Treatment

“Green” Water in Indonesia: Rural Water Systems for a Safer Environment

I would guess there is a UV component for killing bugs and some type of filtering. An article with more details of such a system. Solar-Powered Water Treatment.vThe key requirement making it maintenance free.

It's also being talked about in the US, Water-treatment plant to run on solar power, but more just using electric power. What would be interesting is also using the heat that is a byproduct in the process to improve the efficiency of the overall process.

Solar Needed in Pakistan

Solar energy only way to meet energy needs: expert - Daily Times, Pakistan

Interesting point in the article that Pakistan has lots of Government officials that are supposed to help solar, but no solar installed. The reason is corruption and red tape.

As prices fall for Solar, I believe it will be a good solution for places that don't have a grid already in place. Electricity Grids are not cheap. I wish the article had talked more of the economics of solar, but my SWAG is it does not make sense yet in Pakistan based on the economics. Solar Water Heaters now do, since they can be built with local materials. LED Lamps also make sense, and could have a good economic impact spreading education into areas that don't have power. A problem is the government from what I can tell overall, is not focused on improving the economy, which is unfortunate.

Solar Up or Down?

Solar Shares Collapsing; Where’s The Bottom? from Barrons,

or

a Press Release Examine the Global and China Solar Polysilicon Industry 2008 ... MarketWatch - 2 hours ago The rising price of oil is pushing the solar energy industry towards new highs. People are choosing fuel ethanol, solar water heaters and solar batteries.

My guess, the drop in the price of oil has made Solar less interesting, and there is a feeling there will be further drops in the price of oil. As well as the lack of action by the US congress on an renewable tax credit, stronger dollar, and high poly silicon prices.