Rob Hopkins on Solar Living: More Interesting, Connected and Satisfying
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA 
on 10. 9.08
Solar Connects You to the Seasons
Earlier this week I shared my experiences of installing solar water heating, and included a quote from Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins about the silliness of talking about payback times. Now Rob has written a follow up post about his own experiences with solar water heating in which he reveals that he is taking his solar exploits a little further, in that rather than setting the system up to provide top-up heat with fossil fuels automatically when there’s insufficient sun, Rob’s system is set up so he has to make an active choice to use backup heat. Besides obviously increasing his fuel savings, Rob reckons it also connects him with the seasons:
“What I like about having solar panels (especially when you try, as we are doing, to not use the gas as a top up, using hot water when we have it and doing without when we don’t) is that it is one of those self-imposed restrictions which actually makes life far more interesting, connected and satisfying. I am coming to feel more in tune with what the weather is doing, more connected to the seasons and the world around me (in much the same way that having a garden does).”
Being one for long showers early in the morning, I am not quite sure I am ready to take this extra step to frugality just yet. But if fuel costs keep rising…
:::Transition Culture::via site visit::
More on Solar Water Heating
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Largest Solar Water Heater With PET Bottles Installed in Parana, Brazil
Solar Water heater Mandate for New Hawaiian Homes
Big Steps in Building: Put Solar Hot Water on Every Roof
Make a Solar Water Heater for Under $5
Home Power’s Solar Water Heating Overview
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Its very simple to do this even with a typical solar preheat system which has a preheat tank for the solar panels. Just plumb in two bypasses so you can isolate either the solar tank or the normal DHO tank / on demand heater.
This way, you can throw a couple of valves and then only get water from the solar tank going to the faucets. When you do this, you can turn down the temp on the normal DHO tank, or turn off the heater completely.
A side benefit to this is that in the case of either the solar tank failing, or the DHO tank failing, you can still get hot water from the side that did not fail, allowing you to isolate the failed tank until a plumber can come fix or replace.