Archive for June, 2010

Solar Water Heating in Maryland: It’s Hot.

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 by Solar Fred

Photo: Flickr/Sidewalk_Flying

It snows in Maryland and the entire Washington D.C. area, but that hasn’t stopped Maryland from supporting solar hot water for residences and businesses.

For those concerned about winters, know that solar engineers account for the cold months when designing your system. Certainly, your solar hot water system is not going to be as productive as the milder months, but the sun does shine in the winter and that thermal heat does provide a significant amount of hot water.

Also, keep in mind that whether you live in Maryland or Arizona, your hot water needs are almost always backed up by conventional water heating sources. So whether it’s winter or summer, your home or business will always have enough hot water for showers, washing clothes, etc. It’s only the proportion of solar heated water and gas or electric heated water that will change with the seasons.

Maryland provides many incentives for installing solar hot water for both residential and commercial applications:

  • Property Tax Credit. Most Maryland counties offer some kind property tax incentives. The amount and formula varies by county, so be sure to check this state incentive page under Maryland for details.
  • Solar Water Heating Grant. Maryland also provides a grant of 30% of the installed cost, up to a maximum of $2000. The grant is applicable to both residential and commercial solar hot water systems.
  • State Income Tax Incentives. The amount that you receive from the above grant is not considered income. Therefore, the above maximum $2000 grant is tax-free.
  • State Sales Tax Exemption. Unlike installing a conventional gas or electric water heating system, the solar installer will not charge you any additional sales tax, saving you even more money upfront.
  • Property Tax Improvement Exemption. Your Maryland property taxes will not go up from installing a solar hot water system as an improvement. In addition, if you install a solar thermal system for space heating or cooling, the assessed improvement value will be the same as a conventional system.

In addition to all of the above, don’t forget that the Federal government provides a 30% Federal tax credit. Also, these state incentives are just the beginning of your lifetime savings. As utility rates rise over time, you’ll save money with all of the free hot water you’re receiving. (Naturally, you’ll also be helping the environment. )

For more information to estimate your solar savings, costs, and return on investment, try our solar estimation tool or contact us for a customized free quote.

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Posted in Solar Rebates, Solar Tax Incentives, Solar Thermal & Solar Hot Water News | No Comments »

The Marines Are Coming…for Solar Hot Water

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Solar Fred

Photo:Flickr/Dave Kleinschmidt (not Camp Lejeune)

The Marines are marching to the beat of solar hot water.  Listen to this NPR report for more details, but the gist is that the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina is putting solar hot water heaters on its on-base  housing units.

These houses are generally rented to Marines with families, but the report says that the base will be using solar hot water for other base facilities as well, such as the hospital. The Marines don’t actually buy the solar panels, but instead are using a relatively rare solar hot water power purchase agreement (solar PPA).

Solar PPA arrangements are rare with solar hot water systems, but much more common with solar electric (PV) systems. With a PPA, the solar company installs the systems for little to no up front cost, but the panels are not owned or maintained by Camp Lejeune.  Instead, the panels are owned by the installer. So how does the installer make money?

Basically, by becoming a mini-utility. With today’s  solar hot water monitoring systems, the solar installer can re

motely measure exactly how much solar hot water is being generated by the home’s solar panels.  Then, similar to a utility, the home owner is charged a rate per therm of solar hot water generated.

To see a live example of a solar hot water monitoring system, check out our own Apollo1 monitoring system from Sun Reports. The data you see here is live and coming from the our 4000 series solar collectors that areinstalled on the roof of our San Jose headquarters.

Just like buying versus leasing a car, you’ll save more money over the long run when buying rather than PPA structures.  That’s especially true with all of the rebates and incentive programs available right now.

For more information about innovative solar financing or any financial questions about solar hot water for your home or business, please contact us.  At Free Hot Water, we sincerely want our customers to understand solar economics as well as solar technology.

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Posted in Solar Hot Water Monitoring, Solar Hot Water News, Solar Hot Water Value, Solar Thermal & Solar Hot Water News, Solar Thermal Economics | No Comments »

Why are Apartment Buildings Missing Solar Hot Water Savings?

Sunday, June 20th, 2010 by Solar Fred

Great view. But where's the solar?

If you look at a city skyline with all of the apartment buildings, you’ll see a lot of flat rooftops with nothing on them except a lot of sun, and that’s too bad.

It’s not a too bad that there’s a lot of sun, but that there are very few solar hot water panels collecting all of that sun and providing free hot water for all of those apartment units underneath that roof.

Let’s consider all of the hot water uses in an apartment building complex:

  • Showers and bathtubs. Not only does each unit have a shower, but there’s often more than one person taking a shower or bath in each unit.
  • Dishwashers and dish washing. If the apartment units have dishwashers, that’s another daily load, especially for apartment units that have couples and families. Even if there is no dishwasher, people will still often wash their dishes in hot water.
  • Laundry machines. In some apartment complexes, there are community laundry rooms, while in other condominium apartments, each unit has a separate washer and dryer. Once again, apartments with families or couples are going to be heaviest hot water users.
  • Pools and Jacuzzis. Many buildings have pools and Jacuzzis that are heated. That’s a lot of hot water in use, especially in warmer climates and/or in indoor pools, which may be in use all year round.

Every day, 365 days a year, condominium and apartment dwellers are using gas-fired or oil heated hot water for the above applications. These applications will never stop, nor will they get less expensive. Utility costs for gas and oil and electric hot water systems will only go up in the coming years, but there is good solar hot water news:

State incentives for solar are more generous than they’ve ever been before, especially in California. In addition, apartment building owners can take advantage of the 30% Federal Tax Credit and other tax benefits.

How much a solar hot water system costs for your condo building or apartment complex will depend on many factors, such as the number of residents and apartment units, not to mention the number of dish washers or other building hot water needs.

If you own or manage an apartment building in California or anywhere, don’t assume solar hot water is too expensive.  Instead, contact us for a solar quote. It’s free, so the only thing you have to lose by getting an estimate is a bit of time.

At best, you’ll find out that you’re going to save a lot of money. At worst, you’ll have valuable cost information that you can use to benchmark yourself for the future.

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Posted in Solar Hot Water, Solar Hot Water for Apartment Buildings, Solar Hot Water Value, Solar Tax Incentives | No Comments »

Worried about Solar Panel Theft? Here’s a $15 Solution

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 by Solar Fred

Recently, there have been some reports in California news about solar panel theft in California. These incidents are still relatively rare, since a) you have to know what you’re doing to be removing solar panels from the electrical grid, and 2) your home has to be pretty isolated for your neighbors not to wonder why your new solar panels are being removed by a guy in an unmarked pick-up truck.

Solar Theives, Beware

All that being said, there are larger commercial, roof and ground-mounted systems that are more susceptible to solar panel theft.  Why? Two reasons. They’re on the ground or on a flat roof, for one, so they’re easier to manage than a home’s sloping roof. Secondly, they’re located in commercial or remote areas that are typically isolated at night and on weekends.

Of course, whether the panels you bought are for residential or commercial applications, you still want to protect your investment. There are some hardware solutions on the market today, but there’s an even simpler solution that will give solar thieves pause:

It’s called WEICONLOCK, and it’s a super-strong, fast-curing adhesive/sealant that is specifically made for metal parts. This high quality anaerobic adhesives and sealant is composed of special methacrylate resins that are specifically made for economical thread locking, as well as retaining and sealing of threaded, cylindrical and pipe assemblies.

Because WEICONLOCK is effective with chrome, zinc, nickel, stainless steel and/or aluminum, the product can be used with any racking assembly or solar mounting hardware, whether for Solar PV or Solar Thermal collectors.

How does it work? The characteristic feature of WEICONLOCK is in its curing. The cement remains liquid as long as it is in contact with air. Thus, curing does not start until the adhesive on the jointed parts comes into contact with metal and is deprived of air.

Thus, when WEICONLOCK is applied to solar mounting hardware and the mounting bolts are tightened, it becomes impossible to dissemble. To do so, a blowtorch must be heated to 350 C to soften the material and remove the bolts.

And the cost for such hardcore security? A 20 ml WEICONLOCK pen will secure a typical solar array for under $15.

WEICONLOCK is available in 20, 50 and 200 ml sizes. For more information, see Free Hot Water’s web page and  order item FHWM-AA-600. Or you can download this PDF for a listing of other Weicon sealants and products.

So if you or your solar customers are worried about solar panel theft, get some peace of mind for around $15.

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Posted in Solar Panel Theft, Solar Thermal & Solar Hot Water News, Solar Thermal Training, Weicon Products | 2 Comments »

Information Needed to Assess Solar Hot Water for Restaurants

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 by Solar Fred

Lots of Dirty Dishes = Lots of Solar Hot Water (Photo: Flickr:Svadifari)

Last week, we discussed some of the basic information needed to design a solar hot water system for a Laundromat or laundry service. This week, we’re going to discuss restaurants.

But before we get into the logistics of a site assessment, let’s talk about the why solar hot water makes sense for restaurants and bars.

Saving money is always important, and solar hot water systems can significantly save restaurants money. Where?

The fact is that restaurants, bars, and commissaries just can’t function without steaming hot water to sanitize plates. So when you see hot steam emanating from the glasses, dishes, water glasses, wine glasses, pots and pans coming out of the dish washer, you’re also seeing money wasted.

Aside from saving on your gas or electric hot water bill, there’s also the added value of showing your customers that you’re green. So if you’re serving a healthy or organic menu, the curb appeal solar panels on your roof also says shows you’re committed to not only serving healthy food, but also serving Mother Nature. Enough said.

Restaurant Solar Hot Water Site Assessment – What we need to know.

Here’s a basic overview of what we need to know.

  • Who owns the building? If not you (or your franchise), you’re going to need permission from your landlord to install the solar collector panels on the roof.  The landlord may think that’s a good deal when he or see sees the numbers. Free Hot Water will help you with getting all the information your landlord will need.
  • Your type of dish washer. Every brand of dishwasher has specifications about how much water is used per load.
  • How many loads? It would help the estimate accuracy if your dishwasher employee could count how many loads are used during the course of a weekdays and weekends. We’ll also need to see how many bathrooms you have and kitchen sinks
  • Your gas bill. Taking into account the above and your gas powered kitchen stoves, grills, ovens, and heating systems, Free Hot Water can get a picture of your total restaurant gas usage. By seeing a year’s worth of your gas bill, our engineers can then estimate the portion of your gas bill that is used for water heating.
  • Boiler room location. As with any solar hot water system, our engineers will need to see where the gas powered hot water storage tank is located. The type of tank matters too. The room needs to be large enough to incorporate a solar hot water tank and heat exchanger. Of course, there also has to be access for pipes to reach the roof. If not, the solar hot water tank may have to be placed in another area.
  • Distance from storage room to the roof. To design an efficient system, hot water pumps will be involved. Free Hot Water engineers will need to know the distance from the storage tank area to the roof’s solar hot water collector’s.

The best and most accurate way to know if solar hot water is right for your restaurant or bar is to get a free quote. It will only take a bit of time, and even if a solar hot water isn’t right for your restaurant now, at least you’ll have seen the numbers to know for sure.

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Posted in Hotel Solar Hot Water, Restaurant Solar Hot Water, Site Assessment | No Comments »