Market for Solar Thermal Heating Up
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.26.07
Most of the buzz about solar is for generating electricity, but much of our natural gas is used for space and water heating, when this is the easiest and cheapest way to use solar to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve the resource, particularly in the Northern US and Canada. It is a simple, straightforward technology that is more cost-effective than photovoltaics, but As Tyler Hamilton says, solar thermal has always presented a better business case than solar photovoltaics but has never taken seriously.
But with peak oil and possibly peak gas around the corner, it should be; there are lots of ways to make electricity but how will we heat our homes?
Now with Government incentives and interest free loans, it is getting interesting. The City of Toronto is converting its swimming pools to solar, and Wal-Mart is testing a system on one of its big boxes in the Toronto area. The Provincal government announced the goal of having 100,000 solar electric or thermal systems installed across the province.
A lot of older houses (and some new ones with radiant floors) are heated hydronically, and these are a natural for conversion; it can provide all of the heat some of the time and in really cold weather it certainly cuts down the fossil fuel needed. The hot water can also be run through coils to adapt to hot air heating systems.
System prices are dropping quickly now that evacuated tubes are made in China; at a trade show recently we saw a package unit with evacuated tubes, a strorage tank and controls for under six thousand dollars, about the same as we paid for our high efficiency furnace. ::Toronto Star
Solar Thermal certainly seems like the cheapest route to getting some traction in the solar realm. And it seems like it's very efficient as well. One huge obstacle remains in America, however: people don't like things that don't look "normal". So many here and in other places are installing solar panels on their rooftops and having to defend against complaints by their neighbors about how ugly the systems are.
I live in Toronto and had a system priced out for me....just for hot water use, not hydronic heating (I was told it would require more panels and I would have too much hot water in the summer). It was priced out at about $9,000......way too much for us unfortunately. Our flat roof and high exposure to sunlight would be perfect too.
Is there anywhere I can find out about city and provincial rebates to help with the cost ?
I imagine there are cheaper alternatives but I think the sales guy was trying to up sell us.
Any have any links to Toronto area companies that do this kind of thing ?
Right, its about time someone used the ubiquitous design trend seen on everything from iPod's to toasters to vacuums, to make Solar Thermal attractive on any home. Not even being a designer, I can think of a dozen ways to make it look better than those photos posted above... That could make it a much better seller in the short run. But then word needs to get out about it vs electrical solar - the companies aren't really doing a great job of marketing, and letting people know its out there and quite viable. A great design by FROG or IDEO might be a great press release as well...
As an architect, I couldn't agree more. It seems the only solutions currently available is to buy off the shelf system (which are all hideous) . Maybe you're right, this could be a desireable consumer product, ie "the next dyson", but I wouldn't have thought that fashionable consumers would want a 5 year old model for all to see on their roof. Replacement for "the next big thing" would significantly negate any carbon savings. Pesonally I believe we would all be better served by better integrated solutions as oposed to "bolt-ons's, ie a kit with options. We are currently investigating the least visible, lowest cost methods of doing this using recycled components. So we'll see...
A friend's father put solar thermal collectors on his roof when we were both kids, and installed the requisite tanks in their basement. Unfortunately, while he's very handy, he's also easily frustrated, and when he accidentally rigged the conduit to the panel array backwards so they wouldn't take advantage of convection to pump the water, he got mad and gave up.
Those solar thermal collectors have been up on his roof ever since, and they're apparently "just for show," because they're non-functional. They've been relying on their backup system (electric radiant baseboard heat) for two and a half decades. I wonder how frustrated he would get if someone could do a rough estimate of how much money they could have saved had he sucked it up and attached the conduit correctly after he realized his mistake. :)
@greenblobs: I agree 100% with what you are saying about integrated solutions. This is definitely the way to go. The major problem we will run into on that front is getting the cookie-cutter homebuilders to integrate.
Folks,
I think you want to check these guys out, Cambridge, UK.
http://www.viridiansolar.co.uk/home.htm
They have spent the last couple of years developing an affordable, intelligently designed solar thermal unit, that fits smoothly within a normal roof structure. They have also designed with the building industry, so that it is easily integrated into a normal building process. No specialists are required, a roofer installs it as they build the roof, a plumber plumbs it, when they connect up the heating system. Done.
What is more is the target price point, whilst it is not fixed yet, they are estimated to cost $1500-2000 - which is a little different to $6-9000.
The engineers behind the project previously build and sold a hi-tech bioanalysis business, and decided to do something in the sustainable energy space. Having analysed the different technologies, they were rather shocked at the expense of solar thermal so decided to do something about it.
The factory has just opened, let's hope it makes it stateside soon.
best
Pete Spark, Cambridge, UK.