Solar Water Heating--Revised & Expanded Edition. Bob Ramlow

his gas water heater took off, and sales of solar water heaters plummeted. Gas companies offered generous incentives to hook up to their new gas lines, further hindering sales of solar heaters. Bailey made his last batch of solar water heaters in 1941.

      During this same time period, entrepreneurs took the California solar water heater designs to Florida and met with great success. In a building boom between 1935 and 1941, up to 60,000 systems were installed. More than half the population of Miami used solar water heaters by 1941, and 80 percent of the homes built between 1937 and 1941 were solar equipped.

      World War II all but halted solar water heater installations. Copper was a major component of solar water heaters, and the use of copper was frozen for all nonmilitary use. When the war was over, solar companies came back, but other factors soon led to their decline. Existing solar water heaters were too small to meet the new, increased demand for automatic washing machines, automatic dishwashers, and other similar appliances. In a final blow, electrical rates fell to half the cost they had been before the war, making electric water heating much more affordable. In an aggressive campaign to increase electrical consumption, Florida Power and Light even offered free installation of electric water heaters. By this time, many of the original, aging solar water heaters were experiencing leaking tanks and plugged pipes. Many homeowners found it cheaper to install an inexpensive electric water heater than to fix their solar water heating systems.

      In the United States, the 1950s and ’60s were years of unbridled energy consumption. For all but a few people, solar energy was a nonissue. This changed with the first Arab oil embargo in 1973, when Americans experienced long lines at gas stations, limited supplies of other oil products, such as heating fuel, and energy prices that doubled and tripled. President Jimmy Carter helped make energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy a national priority, symbolized by his donning a sweater and installing a solar water heater on the White House roof.

      The oil embargo profoundly changed the United States. Coming at the end of the Vietnam War, it added to America’s realization of its vulnerability. For the first time since World War II, Americans looked at the way they used energy. Consumers began to demand higher energy-efficiency standards in everything from homes to automobiles. People also looked to renewable energy sources to replace some of the fossil fuels they were using.

      The whole nation took on the challenge of reducing its dependence on oil from the Middle East. Renewable energy sources were rediscovered, and new companies sprouted everywhere to fill the growing demand. Government spending on renewable energy research and development increased from about $1 million to more than $400 million. While this was a small fraction of the attention and money given to the nuclear industry, it was a dramatic change nonetheless.

      During the late ’70s and early ’80s, installing solar energy systems was seen as patriotic. The federal government, as well as many state governments, passed legislation encouraging the use of solar energy systems through tax credits. Federal incentives combined with state incentives (where available) often offset more than 50 percent of the cost of many renewable energy systems. A new renewable energy boom began. People looked to wind-powered electric systems, active space heating systems, advanced passive solar-heating systems, the newly emerging solar electric systems, and advances in energy-saving technologies as well as the old reliable solar water heaters.

      Most of the solar energy companies that sprang up in the 1980s were reliable firms that installed quality systems. Unfortunately, with the general public’s headlong plunge into the use of renewables, a few companies selling inferior products and doing inferior work joined the fray. Some brought products to the market without proper testing. Others just wanted to make a quick buck and didn’t care if they were taking advantage of well-intentioned consumers. Although most renewable-energy systems were of good quality, the minority that weren’t gave solar a bad name.

      The young solar industry was experiencing the typical growing pains that come with most emerging technologies and took steps to correct the problems. The federal government, as well as many state governments, also stepped in to ensure higher quality.

      This move toward renewable energy did not sit well with those who profited from selling fossil fuels. After the most expensive presidential campaign ever, financed in part by oil interests, Ronald Reagan became president of the United States. His presidency heralded a return to fossil fuels. One of his first acts as president was to remove the solar water heater that President Carter had installed on the White House. Between 1981 and 1986, Reagan effectively gutted the US solar industry. He negotiated a repeal of the tax credit legislation for renewables that was in effect. He reduced funding for renewable energy by 90 percent. He also spearheaded a massive campaign to discredit renewable energy. The result was a 91 percent drop in the sales of solar hot water collectors between 1984 and 1986. The solar market in North America from the 1980s through the late 1990s was primarily supported by customers who wanted to invest in renewable energy for environmental reasons. For an in-depth analysis of this subject, I invite you to read Who Owns the Sun? by Daniel Berman and John O’Connor. Their thorough and thought-provoking book will change the way you look at energy and politics forever.

      While North America was abandoning its use of renewable energy, virtually all other developed nations in the world continued to embrace renewables and energy efficiency. As a result of this continued effort, our European and Asian trading partners reduced their energy consumption in relation to gross national product by as much as one half that of North Americans. And while maintaining a similar lifestyle, they also reduced the energy need to half that of the United States. Some countries, such as Israel, require that solar water heaters be installed on all new dwellings and businesses. Developing nations are also embracing renewable energy technologies over traditional fossil-fuel energy sources. Although their track record is not perfect, their attitude toward renewable energy is significantly better than that of North Americans.

Figure 1.1: US energy consumption, 2008

In Figure 1.1, you can see the breakdown of the total energy consumption for the US in 2008. Renewable energy accounted for only seven percent! Solar, both thermal and electric, made up only one percent of the renewable energy share — only 0.07 percent of the total.

      Now that we’ve covered history and the present, we need to look at our future. If what happened in the past carries on through tomorrow, we are headed down a dark and dirty path. One percent of only seven percent is not good enough and needs to change now. Let’s do all we can to make our children’s future brighter.

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       CONSERVATION AND THE ECONOMICS OF SOLAR WATER HEATING

      WHATEVER BROUGHT YOU to this point, whether it was the realization that we are trashing our environment or the simple need to lower your living expenses, now you are here and you want to do something. But what to do first? The answer is simple: start by conserving the energy you use to heat water. Three general principles that are easy to follow will also save you money: reduce losses, increase efficiency and reduce consumption.

      To start, examine your heating system from top to bottom and look for places where heat might leak out. Heat losses in the system end up wasting the energy you just used to heat your water. Many losses can be reduced with just a bit of cheap insulation. For instance, insulate all your hot pipes. If you are working on a new construction, insulating the hot pipes is easy. Even if you don’t have access to all your pipes, insulating the ones you can get at will make a noticeable difference. You should also insulate your water heater. A tank type water heater heats a whole batch of water. As this water sits there waiting for use, it slowly cools down. The more you insulate it, the better it will retain its heat. Heat losses can also come from leaks. A faucet that leaks 30 drops of water a minute will waste almost 100 gallons a month. Fix leaky faucets promptly.

      Next, try to increase the efficiency of everything in