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Decor & Renovating Renovation // Solar Hot Water Makes Sense
Many Australians may not realize that our country pioneered the use of solar power to heat water as far back as the 1950’s. As one of the sunniest countries on the face of the earth, this made good sense but it has been somewhat surprising to see how Australian homeowners have lagged behind other parts of the world when it comes to incorporating this revolutionary technology into their home energy systems. Israel was another early leader in solar water heating technology and today solar water heaters are found all over the country. In contrast, Australia has yet to achieve 10% penetration. What happened here?
The first and most obvious reason is financial. With readily available cheap energy and the relatively high cost of solar heating installation and equipment, it just didn’t make financial sense to most Australian homeowners to switch.
The second and less obvious reason is cosmetic. Roof mounted solar panels have an unattractive appearance, accentuated by the fact that little attention was paid to incorporating materials that would complement our roofing styles and colors into the design of roof-top solar collectors. Some systems not only had roof collector plates but a bulky water tank mounted to the roof as well. These tanks frequently required reinforcing the roof structure to accommodate the weight.
The picture is changing as energy prices rise and the world becomes more and more concerned with environmentally friendly sources of energy. Equipment and installation costs have gone down and both federal government and state government rebates now make the installation of a solar water heating system a financially viable option.
To qualify for most government rebates you must be installing a new hot water system or be replacing an existing electrical hot water system. As of February, 2010, the federal rebate was $1,000. Check your local state governments as some states are still offering rebates.
Depending on your area, up to thirty per cent of your energy costs go towards heating the water you consume, so it makes sense to be proactive and look to a solar water heating system as a hedge against continuing rises in the price of electricity in Australia. It all helps reduce carbon emissions in the environment.
While cosmetic appearance is still a concern for contemporary solar roof panel collector systems, there is an alternative which does not require roof mounted collector panels: the solar heat pump. There’s a bit of mystery and downright alchemy in how a heat pump works – it magically transforms outside air into heated water!
To get an idea of how solar heat pumps work, think of them as “reverse refrigerators.” Some people think refrigerators work by cooling the inside but in actuality what they do is continually extract hot air from inside your refrigerator.
The sun continually heats the air outside and the heat pump extracts this solar energy from the air into an exchange system where it is mixed with a special chemical – environmentally safe – and then compresses it, creating a considerable amount of heat which is then passed to a storage tank where it heats water for your home.
Besides the cost and the cosmetics, solar heat pumps have another advantage over many solar roof collector systems – they don’t mind cold weather. It may seem hard to believe, but even in temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius there is still enough solar energy present in the outside air to allow the heat pump to generate hot water for your home.
