On rooftops globally- a solar water heating revolution

Posted by admin on Jan 23, 2014 in Posts

The change of environment and the energy deficiency encourages the harnessing of solar energy. Due to the daily rising cost of fossil fuels, the government feels need to reduce the cost of solar water heater. With the use of solar thermal collectors, they convert natural sunlight into heat to heat up the water.

For example, China is a country where 27 million roofs have rooftop solar water heaters. The 4000 companies in China are manufacturing these devices at an affordable rate and with a great technology which has approached villages who have scarcity of electricity yet. For villagers, they provide it at an affordable rate, about $200 so that they get a solar water heater installed on their roof and enjoy hot showers. China has boasted to applying this technology, and they are achieving a great success in their business.  By 2020, Beijing has planned to make the present 114 million square meters of rooftop solar collectors to heat water up to 300 million square meters.

The energy required for these installation facilities in China is same as the generation of electricity by 49 coal-fired power plants. Not so far where even in developing countries India and Brazil may also see that millions of households will be using this inexpensive water heating technology. This just would appear in villages just as it appeared when cell phones replaced the use of traditional telephone lines. The initial cost seems may be quite high, but after the installation you will enjoy free life long hot water whenever necessary.

Since the energy costs are costly in Europe, this rooftop technology is spreading wide in that country. Even in Austria about 15 percent households have installed rooftop solar water heater to get hot water. As in China, almost all the villages of Austria have installed this rooftop collector. Germany is also not lagging behind.

As China and European Union have achieved their goals, Japan and United States are also finding new technologies with their recent projects which may heat up a total of 1,180 million square meters of space and water heating capacity by 2020.