SF Environment is having a Green Energy Fair on Saturday, June 26, from 10am-3pm at the Golden Gate Park bandshell in San Francisco. As part of the fair, they are offering bus tours of several San Francisco sites that are currently using solar water heating.
SunWater Solar is pleased that one of our solar thermal installations at a San Francisco apartment building will be featured on the tour. Please join us for the event on Saturday!
SunWater Solar was recently featured in San Francisco Apartment Magazine in an article describing solar water heating systems that we designed and installed in three San Francisco apartment buildings. The owner of the apartment buildings, Linda Erkelens, describes in the article why she decided to invest in solar thermal technology and why she chose SunWater Solar over other companies that bid on the projects.
“I chose SunWater because they specialize in the field [solar thermal technology]. I wanted someone up to date in the technology,” explained Linda, who also appreciated SunWater’s daily updates on the progress of the installation.
San Francisco has a brilliant opportunity to significantly reduce greenhouse gases by focusing on multifamily buildings because there are so many of them in San Francisco. SunWater Solar is proud to contribute to this effort and hopes that more apartment buildings will adopt solar water heating as a way to reduce their carbon footprint and their energy bills while also attracting new tenants.
Web-based performance metrics illustrate quantifiable return on solar thermal investments
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – May 4, 2010 – SunReports, Inc., a provider of performance monitoring solutions for residential and commercial solar installations, in collaboration with SunWater Solar, one of the few companies in California that specializes in solar thermal technology, today announced the successful deployment of smart solar thermal systems innorthern California. SunReports’ Apollo1 provides a Web-based means of analyzing solar system performance, while SunWater Solar brings the expertise necessary to design and install a quality solar thermal system.
The Apollo1 monitors both solar thermal and solar PV systems, requires no configuration in the field and generates system performance data accessible through Internet portals. SunWater Solar assisted in the fine-tuning of the Installer Portal and was one of the first companies to field test the Apollo1, installing the devices on three Schuco commercial solar thermal systems in northern California. Solar thermal systems use the sun’s energy, rather than fossil fuels, to heat water and other fluids, significantly reducing site-generated greenhouse gas emissions and enabling long term Return on Investment (ROI) through decreased utility bills.
SEIA, the Solar Energy Industries Association, has released its year in review report for 2009, and they are calling for a continued increase in solar water heating systems in 2010 after a 10% growth rate in 2009. Here is an excerpt from the report:
“SEIA expects continued growth in SWH in 2010. This year, California will launch the most ambitious state SWH incentive program with the goal of installing 200,000 SWH systems. In addition, increased use of SWH to generate renewable energy certificates (RECs) to meet state renewable energy standards could drive additional deployment in some states as we began to see in Arizona last year. This optimism is mirrored by the many new products seeking certification from the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation, the testing body charged with certifying equipment for eligibility to take the federal ITC.”
In addition to solar water heating, the report sites the huge potential of solar thermal technology for cooling applications like air conditioning and industrial cooling. “While solar cooling technologies have yet to take off in the U.S., the potential is enormous. More than 60 percent of energy consumed residential and commercial buildings is for thermal services. Of that, water heating accounts for about one quarter. The rest is used for space heating and cooling, a huge growth opportunity for solar energy over the next few years.”
SunWater Solar offers both solar water heating and solar thermal cooling solutions and looks forward to more customers adopting solar thermal as a cost effective way of reducing energy bills and greenhouse gasses.
“Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire” runs a quote by noted author David Rains Wallace. We here at SunWater Solar certainly agree, as would anyone who has ever successfully brewed a batch of ale, lager, stout or other type of beer.
California is well-known for producing fine beers. Brewing companies like Sierra Nevada, Anchor and Gordon Biersch turn out millions of bottles of brew every year from their facilities in California, while countless smaller breweries across the U.S. also add to the diversity of beers that drinkers can choose from.
A large percentage of beer is water, which is also a central part of the brewing process. Breweries need large quantities of water – hot water – to not only make beer, but also to rinse and clean the kegs, tanks and other equipment used to manufacture and ship the final product.
There is a simple elegance in the combination of water, heat and basic ingredients (yeast, sugar, grains, etc.) necessary to craft beer. Bringing the sun’s natural heat into the process by way of a solar hot water system adds to this elegance.
And for brewing companies, which are businesses after all, a solar thermal system can be a sound investment since these systems significantly reduce water-heating costs. Breweries in Wisconsin, Oregon, and Montana have all turned to solar water heating for their brewery operations.
Water. Natural ingredients. Solar energy. Now that’s a discovery that’s easy to get excited about!
Most people have spent some stretch of time living in an apartment building. If you’ve ever rented an apartment, you know that noisy neighbors, shared laundry machines and crowded conditions can be downsides to apartment life. But having the freedom to move out as soon as a lease ends helps make such inconveniences worthwhile. And as a tenant, you also don’t have to worry about the large amounts of money required to keep an apartment building operational.
Unlike tenants, apartment building owners see their buildings as long-term investments, with long-term costs. Building owners, for example, must frequently pay the entire building’s monthly water-heating bill. Every time a tenant cooks a meal, does laundry or uses the bathroom, that’s money out of the building owner’s pocket! And the more people there are living in the building, the higher the owner’s costs.
Water-heating can account for a large percentage of an apartment building owner’s monthly energy bills. Solar thermal systems reduce energy bills, insulate owners from rising natural gas prices and help owners go green by using the sun’s energy, rather than electricity or fossil fuels, to heat the water used by tenants. A solar thermal system can produce 60% to 80% of an apartment building’s hot water load, and also help differentiate the property among environmentally conscious tenants.
For apartment building owners and tenants, solar thermal is a win-win!
President Jimmy Carter set a great example in the 1970′s when he installed a solar hot water system at the White House. When President Reagan took over he removed the panels from the White House just seven years after they were put into service.
Now there is a new call for President Obama to follow Carter’s example and install solar hot water and solar PV systems at the White House. This would help set an example for the rest of the country and the world and allow the White House to use renewable energy to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. SunWater Solar would certainly like to see a solar water heating project at the White House and of course we would be happy to participate!
Universities across America and around the world are adopting solar water heating in their efforts to go green, reduce their carbon footprint, and save money. Solar hot water can be used to supply hot water to dorms, food service facilities, laundries, and sports facilities, all of which use significant quantities of hot water.
Appalachian State recently installed a system to supply hot water to its student union and Yale University is using solar hot water in a LEED Platinum building on campus. SunWater Solar is excited to see solar water heating on campuses and expects that more and more universities will follow the lead of these two schools.
The California Building Standards Commission has voted unanimously to implement the most stringent green building codes in the U.S. The Code, dubbed Calgreen, will take effect in January of 2011. Solar water heating will play a part in Calgreen as it specifies that “Solar water heating may be used to assist in meeting the energy efficiency requirements” of the code.
SunWater Solar is pleased to see that Solar water heating is recognized as a key part in continuing California’s push toward a greener future.
SunWater Solar has been chosen to test a new 3-speed solar pump being developed by Grundfos. The “XL” Superbrute is a good solution for many commercial solar thermal systems and SunWater Solar is proud to be chosen to perform pilot tests. The first pumps will be installed on a new solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system for a multifamily complex currently being built by SunWater Solar in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The XL Superbrute provides greater flows at higher head than the current Superbrute circulators. It will fill a gap between the very successful Superbrute and Versaflo pump lines.
