Solar hot water systems are finally getting the respect they deserve. After a lengthy cost-benefit analysis the CPUC has decided to go ahead with a statewide program to provide financial incentives to encourage the rapid development of the solar hot water industry in California.
That’s what a new survey by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), and the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is showing us by examining the environmental actions and preferences of 100,000 British people from 40,000 households.
The findings presented below are the first from a new annual household survey in Britain named Understanding Society. The environmental topics are one subset of the whole survey, which also examines the “working lives, relationships, health, finances, neighbourhoods, education, transport and more” of Brits.
What are the main findings thus far?
Did you know that if you install a Biomass Stove – wood, pellets, etc. that you can nab a 30% tax credit ($1,500 max) up until 2010? Who knows that homeowners can get a 30% tax break for installing Solar Hot Water Heating until 2016? Maybe the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which was signed into law by President Obama in February 2009 isn’t as complicated as the IRS tax code but does anyone really want to delve into the 400 pages of legislation to figure all the ins and outs about how to qualify for the green tax credits available to homeowners?
In a Cliff’s Notes version of the myriad incentives, rebates, and tax incentives GREENandSAVE has created a Federal Tax Incentive Decoder and condensed the material to 11 bite sized pages. Best of all, this resource does not cost a dime and can be downloaded at: http://www.greenandsave.com/homecheckup/free_federal_tax_incentive_decoder
An Irish company called Surface Power has launched what it claims is the world’s most efficient solar hot water panel. Certification by testing house TUV Rhineland has shown that the innovative product is up to 131% more efficient in morning and evening time and 76% more efficient at midday than other panels.
A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F).
The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.
Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.
They’re probably drinking a lot of beer in Quqiao village, in Shaanxi Province, China.
Ma Yanjun, a carpenter, said he wanted his mother to be able to enjoy a comfortable shower anytime, and since a solar water heating system was too expensive, he devised a way to make one of his own.
Using only water-filled beer bottles and connecting hoses, Ma’s mother now has hot water on demand, and so do more than 20 other families [...]
The book by architect Lori Ryker is less of a manual for systems to be used in off the grid homes (though it does include good information about the systems and strategies that are used in sustainable off the grid living) and more of a showcase of state of the art homes at the intersection of appealing architecture and high sustainability.
For many, the phrase “off the grid home” brings associations of a rudimentary, hand-built, rustic cabin. It usually suggests a rough hewn character and images of anything other than refinement and elegance. But that image is far from the case in examples presented in this book.
When considering the installation of such a system, it is important to consider the following items.
Image Credit: Dawn Solar
Solar hot water systems should be in use everywhere in the country. They are not terribly expensive to install, and the payback period on them is much shorter than it is for solar photovoltaic. Even in cold climates, it is possible to have a system with a heat exchanger and an antifreeze filled loop, so that the system can be run, even when nighttime temperatures are below freezing.
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PhotoCredit: Path to Freedom
If you have been exploring solar energy at all, you already know that the payback period for a solar hot water system is much shorter than that for a solar photovoltaic system. The system for solar hot water is much simpler. Rather than converting solar energy into electricity with expensive photovoltaic panels and then rectifying the current through an inverter to create AC power, a
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Photo Credit: cmhc.ca
Adaptive reuse is the use of an existing structure for a new purpose; in short, it is recycling for buildings. Rather than demolishing an old structure to clear a site, the existing structure is rehabilitated and used for a new purpose.
Koo's Corner is a project in Vancouver that took an old automotive repair shop and turned it into six urban loft residences. The existing garage building
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