Fire fighters work seven days a week, and use a lot of domestic hot water. The City of Reno has decided to spend $10,000 on installation a solar water heater for each fire station.

The project will start in the next January and finish in the coming August. Among the 5 stations that will not have solar water heaters,  3 of them are surrounded by many trees, and another  2 stations are in temporary buildings.

The 182 solar panels collect the heat from the sun and provide 3,600 gallons hot water daily.

“Our solar water heater can easily go another 20 years,”  William H. Jacques, the Facilities Supervisor of the University of Nevada, Reno said.

UNRused the federal fund to install the solar water heater in 1974. On the roof of the residential hall, those 182 solar panel face south, and collect heat from the sun, provide about 3,600 gallons hot water for more than five hundred students who live in the dormitory.

On the roof of the residential hall, I saw those panels still work well after 35 years.  Jacques told me they had been upgraded 15 years ago. With the modern computer monitor and control technology, the whole solar water heating system works more accurately and effectively.

Jacques’s estimated that  the solar water heater save $ 15,000 annually, plus UNR also gets $ 5,000 solar energy credits every year,  the free sun helps UNR to save about $20,000 on heating water for the dormitory every year.

In a sunny place like Reno, the best way of using solar energy is to heat the swimming pool.

John has designed his energy efficiency home and been enjoying the free energy since a few years ago. He told me because he takes use of the free solar energy , he and his family are able to enjoy a nice home without paying  any cents on  the  electricity bill. As the backup energy, he only needs propane, which will cost less than $ 200 a year.

According to him, the first reason why there are not so many people use solar water heaters in the U.S.A is the life style.  Generally, the expectation of getting the investment of solar water heater is about 5 years.  However, due to the mobility of the society, lots of people live in  Reno are from another cities or states, they stay in Reno less than 5 years, and might move to another place in the future. Therefore, people don’t have a long- term  plan of investment for their properties.

The second reason is the price of the energy has been cheap for a long time.  So  less homeowner concern about the utility bills.

The third reason is it is difficult, or cost more money to install a solar water heater to a existing home.  

“The best way to get people change their habit is price.” John agreed that the government should have incentive or tax rebate program to encourage people use more solar energy to heat their space and water.

Of the ways to heat water, solar is the least costly way, since the sun is free to everyone.

Not only is it the most cost effective way to save money on heating water, it also reduces carbon emissions and lowers the dependence on imported energy.

To encourage people to use solar energy, the federal government has several rebate and incentive programs. The State of Nevada also provides incentives and some tax credits for using solar energy.

According to Desiresolar, a database of state incentives for renewable and efficiency, more than 20 states and 130 utilities offer direct incentives for the use of photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.

These incentives typically cover 20 5 to 50 % of project costs and range from a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars.

While Nevada currently provides incentives only for photovoltaics, there is a chance that some incentives might be offered for solar water heaters soon.

For a gas assisted system:

You need to know the unit cost of fuel by Btu (British thermal unit) or therm. (1 therm= 100,000 Btu)

365 × 41,045/SEF × Fuel Cost (Btu) = estimated annual cost of operation

OR

365 × 0.4105/SEF × Fuel Cost (therm) = estimated annual operating cost

Example: Assuming the SEF is 1.1 and the gas costs $1.10/therm

365 × 0.4105/1.1 × $1.10 = $149.83

For an electric assisted system:

 You need to know or convert the unit cost of electricity by kilowatt-hour (kWh).

365 × 12.03/SEF × Electricity Cost (kWh)= estimated annual operating cost

Example: Assuming the SEF is 2.0 and the electricity costs $0.08/kWh

365 X 12.03/2.0 X $0.08 = $175.64

It should also be noted that installation costs and maintenance costs need to be calculated into the final estimates to be compared.

 Expectations:

On average, you can expect a 50% – 80% savings on your water heating bills, because the sun is free. If you use a passive solar water heating system for all your hot water needs then you can expect a 100% savings! You will also be protected from shortages of fuel and price hikes in the future.

How much money you save depends on the following:

The amount of hot water you use; your system’s performance; your geographic location and solar resources; available financing, tax incentives and the cost of conventional fuels (natural gas, oil, and electricity)

Humans used fuel to heat water, wood and oils in the begining, coal and gas later on. They heated water directly by the consumption of the fuel, the only alternative to directly heating water this way, was passive heating by solar radiation. These practices remained almost unchanged for centuries until modern times, where today we use technology to improve upon the same basic ideas. 

Records only go back so far, but we do know from records that a Swiss naturalist named Horace de Saussure observed and stated “It is a known fact, and a fact that has probably been known for a long time, that a room, a carriage, or any other place is hotter when the rays of the sun pass through glass.” He was the inventor of the first “Hot Box” to prove his theory, but he did not understand the method by which the sun actually heated the box. As far as we know, this was the beginning for the idea of efficiently heating water for personal use. Before his experiment, water was generally heated in large pots or barrels, but the water temperature never got much warmer than the outside air temperature and it began losing it’s heat as soon as the sun went down. Also it took from early morning till late afternoon for the water to get hot, so fuel of one sort or another was used to bring the water temperature up further.

In the early nineteenth century solar water heaters that combined the use of the “Hot Box” and a tank of water were commercially available. Since then, they have remained relatively unchanged until today, except for the incorporation of modern electronics to monitor the systems. 

Modern solar water heater is compatible with surrounding buildings.

My first stop is Independent Power Corporation, a leading supplier and installer of renewable energy products in Nevada.

Some basic facts of a solar water heating system.

Cost is first concern of most people.  The cost of installing a solar water heater depends on many facts. Generally, a 3 or 4 bedroom house requires 80 gallons of  hot water to meet the domestic use, such as showers, dishes and laundries.

David Bogan, project manager of IPC stated that a completly installed and ready to use system will cost in the vacinity $ 6,000 to 7,000. 

The installation process  takes one or two days. During the process, the household water will be shut off for a short time of  2 hours.

 Once the solar water heating system is installed, no matter winter or summer, homeowners no longer need to pay any utility bills for heating the water.

Who should consider:

First, people who are concerned about the environment and their utility bills . The solar energy heating system is  an eco- friendly, pollution- free product,  and the solar energy is free.

 Secondly, people who use lots of hot water. The installation of the system is a one time cost factor. However,  “the more hot water you use, the quicker the pay back,” Bogan stated.

 As an example, a household of 5 women will get the investment back in 3 – 5 years. The average family of 4 will get the investment back in 5- 7 years.

 Thirdly, people  using the high cost of electricity, propane and fossile fuel to heat their water should definitely consider replacing their current system with the solar water heater.

 Is the money an issue

The minimum cost of a solar water heater is $ 6,000.  Though this is affordable for many families, it is not a small amount of money. The future is what we have to consider in regards to this investment.  

The cost of energy has been climbing in price year after year. Bogan said. “it is time to prepay the future energy in today’s dollar and price. ”

The federal government has allowed  30 % of the expenditure of solar water heating system to be deducted from  the  federal income tax return.       

More good news is  that the  local utility company, NVenergy,  is working on a rebate program for the solar water heater. This will definitetly decrease the final investment of  the solar system.

OPC also provides installation financing.

 The last but not the least, if you are considering a new home or a remodel, now is the time to consider installing the framwork for a solar water heater system.

 Of course, before making a decision to install a solar water heater, it is wise to consult creditable installers. They will help you design the best energy saving solution according your situation.

With today’s technology, the solar water heater works more  effectively.  According to an article,  when placed in low latitudes areas (below 40 degrees), solar power hot water heating system can supply around 60 to 70% of domestic hot water consumption with temperatures up to 60 °C.   In a place like Nevada, which  ranks first in solar resources with an average of 250 days of sunshine each year, solar water heating systems are one of the most cost-effective utilizations of solar energy. 

In the next few weeks, I will be  interviewing local solar water heater contractors, solar experts from NV Energy and UNR. I will also be exploring the employment of solar water heaters, and to discover the fact why solar water heaters will be a  new acceptance for most households in Reno.

In China, solar water heaters are not a new concept for most people. No matter where they live and which social class they are, from big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, to infamous remote rural villages, solar water heaters are one of the basic home appliances that most homeowners or new construction contractors will take into consideration before they remodel or build new property.

I have lived in America for one year; but have observed that the solar water heater is not nearly as common here as it is in China. I asked many American friends of mine and conducted research about this issue, trying to find the reason why in a country where people are more conscious about most environmental issues they are  backward in using this very environmental friendly product?

According to my research, the first reason is the cost. It is not easy for a homeowner to decide to invest thousands of dollars to install a solar water heater unless they are really convinced of the potential savings.

The second reason is capacity. Americans use way more hot water than most of the world, including Europe. In order to meet the needs, solar water heaters need to have an expensive storage system. If you can keep your hot waterusage down around 80-100 gallons a day, solar water heaters are viable in most of the USA.


The third reason  is expertise. There are a lot of semi-experts in the solar field, particularly in the installation end. Solar systems are more complicated than regular hot water heaters and require a lot more knowledge to balance collectors, pumps and storage. Until the large well- known engineering firms become involved, solar water heating will be done by people with good intentions, but little practical knowledge.

The last reason is aesthetics. Most residential architecture was designed with built- in solar capacity.  However, add-ons are ugly. Many upscale neighborhoods won’t allow them. Actually it is a problem that most cities in China have to face: many solar water heaters make the city look ugly. Though most residential buildings in China are at least 6 stories and solar water heaters on their roofs are not very visible from ground level,  lots of cities have been thinking of how to solve the conflict, encourage more people to  use solar water heaters, and meanwhile make solar water heaters  look compatible with the surroundings.