Solar Thermal Discussion
I have read through several Posts on the Forum and it seems that many people have concerns that the investment on a Solar Thermal System does not recoup quicker. Numbers between 7 and 20 years are floating around. I will tell you in 7 to 20 years what was the correct estimate. Steam Guy said…
I have read through several Posts on the Forum and it seems that many people have concerns that the investment on a Solar Thermal System does not recoup quicker. Numbers between 7 and 20 years are floating around. I will tell you in 7 to 20 years what was the correct estimate. Steam Guy said one very interesting thing: why are environmental improvements always subject to this calculation while buying a new kitchen is not. Yes, why do people not think this way when buying a new car (while the old one is still working fine).
There are also other factors to be taken into consideration. I have made this amateur calculation (it is not 100% exact because I am not a scientist, so don´t beat me):
The average household consumes 720 Gallons (a) of Oil per year. (brownstones way more I guess)
Considering you save 30% you save 4862 pounds of Co2 (b) per year.
This equals roughly the amount of 2 return Flights NYC-London (c)
Or a US roundtrip drive in a VW Jetta new york → Orlando → San Francisco → Seattle → New York
In other words:
This offsets the CO2 footprint of your yearly vacation trip from now on until the end of time.
What about the feelgood factor (that also applies to new kitchens)? I will look forward to every day that I stand in the shower and feel the warm water which was heated through something that I put on the roof.
I recently bought a house and I will put a Solar Thermal system on the roof.
Why? First of all because I have a roof – I have always lived in condos. It´s something that I can do, and saving 30% of my bill and co2 footprint isn´t too bad.
The question is not does Thermo Solar make sense – but does it make sense to heat water by oil, gas or electricity?
Our kids will say one day soon: „Hey dude, can you believe in 2010 they used to heat up their water by fire even in the Summer when it had like a 1oo degree outside“
(a) http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/consumptionbriefs/recs/heating_oil/heating_oil.html
(b) http://www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm
(c) http://www.cheap-parking.net/flight-carbon-emissions.php
Check out evacuated tube technology for solar thermal (hot water). The payback for solar thermal is better presently than for PV. Its a good thing for the environment Its good for the country to import and burn less oil. You still will need back up since the solar fraction of your hot water production use will probably be around 65%. And presently in the summer you will probably have to dump the excess heat
china solar water heater
My post was about Solar Thermal (= directly heating water through sun), not solar power (= electricity from solar panels).
I am aware that updating my house will not save the planet. But it can be FUN. There are cost efficient alternatives. Oil prices will go up during the next years, there is no doubt about it.
The US is not a visionary country in this field, probably because oil is still cheaper than in most other countries.
It is still affordable to blow the heat out through bad windows, and to use boilers that are older than the invention of the Fax Machine.
Sorry for the name confusion Steam MAN, I will drop you a mail, and hopefully we can make a follow up posting later this year 🙂
well. the best way to protect yourself from high oil prices is to buy forward contracts. I am sure Goldman devised a derivative, which protects you in case if weather gets warmer as well. 🙂
The Superfreakonomics guys are totally misinformed about global warming. That number is ridiculous.
here is interesting number: human are responsible only for 2% of all green house gasses emissions. so what ever you do with your oil does not really change balance of things.
read “superfreakonomics” – it has much better ideas.
First of all it’s Steam MAN not Steam Guy. LOL!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, this is always a great discussion here on Brownstoner and lots of people say “Hey! I’m going to install solar thermal.” So why haven’t I had any follow up conversations with anyone other than SilverMax(who’s a very sharp lady btw!) ?
The systems are great. All the talk of cost leaves out the first step in the process which is developing a proper scope, which will determine the system and hence the cost.
Most homeowners aren’t set up to do a full solar thermal system including space heating unless they decide to change their radiators et al.
Soooooooooo….. Why not determine how far your system needs to go? It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to heat your domestic water with solar thermal than to do domestic water and space heat.
Geez, you would think I was charging for the free estimate and conversation! Shoot me an e-mail, let’s chat!
-SteamMan
heat@moltenmechanical.com
Check out evacuated tube technology for solar thermal (hot water). The payback for solar thermal is better presently than for PV. Its a good thing for the environment Its good for the country to import and burn less oil. You still will need back up since the solar fraction of your hot water production use will probably be around 65%. And presently in the summer you will probably have to dump the excess heat
that you will capture but not use. I think eventually they will be manufacturing residential cost effective devices that will be able to use this excess hot water to drive dessicant dehumidification or absorption air conditioning. Go for it.
That’s not true, christopher…check out life cycle analysis and you’ll see far more than you mention has been factored in. People who say screw the environment apparently forget it means screwing yourself as well. Enjoy.
Screw the environment, I want free power. I also like knowing that when ConEd screws the pooch (like they did recently, shorting out my house) I won’t hav to worry about it.
The “green” argument is all well and good but as someone mentioned above no one ever factors the manufacturing of the panels, or the batteries used to store the electricity, into the “green” equation.
Greener than burning oil? Maybe. Completely “Green”? Far from it.