Halifax council Tuesday approved the Solar City program, which means that up to 1,000 houses will be equipped with solar water heating systems in HRM.
Solar City was the brainchild of Richard MacLellan, the city’s manager of sustainability, who realized that Halifax wasn’t meeting its potential for using solar energy, in part because regular people had difficulty financing the systems and maneuvering through the bureaucratic hoops of applying for energy efficiency rebates, as well as understanding the technical issues involved.
In 2010 MacLellan proposed an elegant solution: A program would be seeded with a loan of about $5 million from the Federal Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund. Then, two city employees would judge the technical merits of solar water heating systems on specific houses, and would work through the confusing rebate system for the homeowners. The city would pay the upfront cost of 1,000 installations, with homeowners paying back those costs over 10 years through an annual charge accompanying their property tax bill, but that charge would be less than the energy savings for the homeowner. Those repayments, in turn, would fund 1,000 more installations each year into the future.
The idea was so appealing that over 1,600 homeowners said they were interested, and council gave MacLellan the OK to develop the program. But CAO Richard Butts was hired in 2011, and by June of this year Butts’ deputy, Mike Labrecque, recommended to council that it kill Solar City before it began. Council, however, uncharacteristically overrode that recommendation, and councillor Russell Walker successfully led the charge to get the start-up loan.
The caveat is that the first year of the approved program is dubbed a “pilot,” to be reviewed at a later date. Regardless, Solar City is a go, and installation of 1,000 solar water heating systems could begin as soon as February.
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This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2012.
Neato, gang! Neato!
This is really exciting. Hopefully the “pilot” goes well.
The article does not state whether the solar system will be heating water all day long when it is not needed. It is a waste of energy to heat water when it is not needed. It is also a waste to throw rusted out water tanks into the landfill. Sure you can buy a non-rusting one but it will cost you big time. Not to mention all the pipes, solar panels, space and other equipment needed. A complex solution rather than a simple one. What will be the cost of these units? Will they be built to hear water when it is 20 degrees below zero and no sun for days? If so, that is going to be very expensive. This system sounds like a real resource hog.
I only need hot water two or three times a day. Therefore, I do not waste energy and money by heating water that is stored in an elephantine, usually 40 gallon, tank. Instead, I heat the small amount of hot water that I need by using an in-line, on demand hot water heater about the size of a box of chocolates. Goodbye to that fat, sure to rust (unless you spend a bundle) hot water tank.
About five years ago, my standard 40 gallon premium hot water tank rusted out. I was fed up with paying NS Power for energy to heat water that I never used. I found an in-line heater at Home Depot for about $300 and have been using it since. I estimate my savings at 50% of what I was paying in energy bills to heat water I never used.
These heaters come in different sizes for different rates of flow and different capacities to raise the temperature of the water. Here are some ot these heaters:
https://www.globaltowne.com/index.php/cPat…
The particular heater I bought was a Bosch Powerstar. I got it online through Home Depot. You will have to determine the temperature of your water coming in, the rate of flow you want (gallons per minute) and how many degrees you want to raise the temperature. My unit has an adjustment to raise or lower the temperature of the water coming out of it.
Of course, a simple solution does not fill the pockets of the municipal bureaucrats, the plumbing contractors, the solar panel suppliers, plumbing suppliers, hot water tank manufacturers, etc. and, of course, the sales tax hungry Provincial and Federal Governments. Follow the money every time.
Europeans, not noted as energy guzzlers, have been using in-line heaters for years.
By the way, where do I belly up for my energy efficient rebate?
Hi – In response to the comment by Sweets,
Solar systems actually save more energy than in-line boosters. In fact citing, the Energy Star web site: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=sola…, you can achieve a typical savings of 50% in the US, or I estimate about 40% in Canada, on a solar system. We have one of these and it works well – pumping the heat into our tank using solar energy to heat the water and solar energy to drive the pump – free energy. In NS electricity prices are 25% higher than the national average, so the savings are even greater in making this a reasonable choice. The in-line systems do save energy also, but not as much, about 24-34%, and only to that degree in homes with lower than average water usage – typical savings from these systems in a larger family can be only 11%. If you combine the systems, the savings don’t add but combine, leading to a bit more potential savings = 1-(1-0.4)*(1-0.24) = 54% to 60% for low water users — but then you are replacing your existing system with two at the same time. http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/tan…
Overall more bang per dollar spent in renovation is to use a solar water heater with a new tank next to your existing tank and take advantage of the NS program! When it’s time to replace your old tank, you can get a smaller tank as your backup/booster which works great for a family of 4, or if your water usage is low, replace it with an in-line booster achieving a bit more savings in the long run. Saving energy means less burning fossil fuels and less CO2.
Geoff