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Can Solar Hot Water Save Me Money In Future?

We all know that the price of traditional energy sources is rising annually, sometimes even more than annually: and we know that there are viable alternatives to some of that energy sourcing. One of the most common alternative energy sources is solar power – which, used as an additional means of power for one’s water heating, certainly works: but how cost effective is it? The manufacturer’s ads, of course, are clear enough: according to them, solar hot water is as cost effective as they come. We’ve taken a look at the key benefits and costs of solar powered water heating in an attempt to deliver a more realistic picture.

First, then, the weather. Solar power requires sunshine. Without guaranteed sun, solar energy is less reliable than the manufacturers of solar panels and tubing would have us believe. That said, the actual presence of the sun in the sky is not a pre-requisite for working solar heating. The sun still has an effect (as anyone who has burned on an overcast day will tell you) even when hidden by clouds. It’s just not quite as strong. Manufacturers of solar energy sources designed for UK use have addressed this as best they can, with the result that solar hot water systems implemented by UK contractors do work better than equivalent technology sourced from countries like Australia, where sun is a given.

What we need here is a case study. Is there any evidence that solar hot water, powered by designed panels and tubes in the UK climate, actually delivers enough return to save money? Typically enough, the answer is “maybe”. In the case of a well-known pub and restaurant in a seaside town in North Devon, modern solar tubing panels power the hot water supply for a bar and kitchen that can support up to 1,500 meals per day. During the winter, those panels proved woefully ineffective: but from spring through summer and part of autumn, they gathered enough solar power to heat water for the whole building without trouble.

The knock on effect of this particular saving is twofold. First, the pub in question saves money on its actual power bills by sourcing most of the energy that heats its water in busy times from the sun. Second, it qualifies for tax breaks by committing to renewable energy sources. We can infer from this that solar water heating certainly does save money for commercial installations – though of course you’ve got to make the point that a commercial outlet is more likely to spend enough money to purchase solar panels big enough to work in the first place.

That’s an important point in itself. The size of the solar panel, or tubing array, that gets fitted is absolutely key to its final ability to save money for a property owner. Domestic solar power installations tend to be significantly smaller than their commercial brethren, for simple reasons of space. The solar array attached to the pub in our case study is larger than a normal domestic garage.

So – what’s the real cost, or saving, of solar powered water heating? On its own, solar powered anything is insufficient to run a modern British home or business. We simply don’t get the weather. Used as an auxiliary power source for water heating, solar power can deliver fairly impressive results: though the excellence of the delivery is directly proportionate to the size of the solar panels. And that means anyone who wants to use solar powered water heating for simple cost saving purposes, is going to have to indulge the old adage and spend money to make money. Opting for a cheaper or smaller solar array is unlikely to produce results that will ever make a decent impact on utilities bills: as proven in another case study of ours, in which a normal terraced domestic property purchased a small scale solar panel to help heat their water. To date, after two years’ continuous use, their panel has never produced more than 10 minutes’ hot water.

The current estimate for ROI on a good domestic use solar water heating system is averaged at between 6 and 12 years. Then you’ve got to consider solar “grants” – initiatives whereby local government promises to bring in money back breaks on normal energy bills, when a homeowner fits solar panelling. The “feed in tariffs” promised by Government for solar panel users actually pay the owners of a solar panel between 36p and 41p per Kwh produced: 36p if the homeowner is using some of the power, 41p if it is all going back into the National Grid. Good news indeed – though the estimated annual saving to a normal household (just shy of £200) falls a long way short of the cost of installing solar in the first place. If ROI for solar panelling was worked out on this figure alone, the previously quoted figure of 6-12 years would rise to 60-120 years.

Solar powered water heating, then, can save you money in future if you’re capable of installing panels that are large enough to do the job. Modern panels are smaller than you’d think, in terms of size translated into effectiveness – but you still need a fairly sizeable array in order to generate enough consistent power to notice a saving in heating bills. Overall, our answer to the title question is twofold: solar powered water heating will save you money, eventually, and it will certainly make a contribution to arresting our heavy consumption of environmental resources. The bigger the panel, the better the return. The last word, though, as it so often is with all thing British, must be couched in the form of a familiar sentence. Can solar powered water heating save you money? Depends on the weather.

London Builders Pro are Top Rated solar powered water heating specialists

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Comments (0) 28.09.2010. 20:27