Saving Solar Water Heating in Oregon
Posted on April 14, 2015 by Max Muller
Tags, Energy
If you’re a current or aspiring homeowner, you’ve probably wondered about the possibility of installing rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity and save on your electric bills. But did you know that there’s an older and equally cost-effective technology that harnesses just as much of the sun’s energy while using less roof space? The technology? Solar water heaters.
Unlike solar PV panels, which generate electricity, solar water heaters save energy. They do it by preheating water before it gets to your water heater. Heating water is so energy intensive, and hot water is used in so many daily tasks—showering, washing dishes, cleaning clothes—that a solar water heater could cut a family’s energy use by 15% to 25%.
All of that makes solar water heaters a great way to harness the sun’s energy. The problem is that it’s getting hard to find anyone to install one these days. Solar water heaters, and Oregon’s once-vibrant industry that built, maintained, and installed them, have been largely driven from the marketplace.
That’s NOT because solar water heaters fail to compete on costs. A typical solar water heater located in Portland might save 2500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. It costs roughly the same as a solar PV system while using a quarter the roof-space of a solar PV system that generates the same 2500 annual kWh.
What’s killing the solar water heater industry is an outdated state clean energy incentive. The incentive makes the final price consumers pay for solar PV and solar hot water unbalanced. For example, after all current incentives are applied, a homeowner would pay $1,527 out-of-pocket for the solar PV system, but $5,500 for the solar water heater.
At the industry’s peak in 2008, Oregon was home to roughly 20 companies building, maintaining, or installing solar water heaters in Portland, Bend, Eugene, Hood River, Pendleton, on the coast, and in Southern Oregon. Together, they installed hundreds of solar water heaters per year—over 25,000 since 1980. One of those companies, Mr. Sun Solar, invented its own highly-reliable and popular water heating system designed for Oregon’s climate. In its heyday, Mr. Sun Solar employed ten people, including an engineer overseeing a high-speed manufacturing operation and two full-time installation crews.
Now, due to decreasing demand, Mr. Sun Solar has furloughed its manufacturing machinery. Like the other companies, it has mostly laid off its installation crews. Fewer than 50 solar water heaters were installed statewide in each of the last two years. And no one has applied for Oregon’s solar thermal installation apprenticeship program in over two years.
That’s why CUB is working this year to pass House Bill 3344. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Reardon (D-Portland) and Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles), would raise Oregon’s solar thermal incentive to generally match that of Oregon’s successful solar PV incentive program.
By doing so, Oregon can save its dying solar water heater industry and create green jobs, preserve Oregon families’ investments in the 25,000 solar water heaters already installed by ensuring trained technicians are around to maintain them, and save energy for consumers by restoring a solar option that helps homeowners take maximum advantage of the sun’s energy.
HB 3344 is scheduled to be heard in the House Energy and Environment Committee on Thursday, April 16. Tell your legislator to Vote Yes on HB 3344; you can find your legislator here. Thanks for your support!
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04/28/17 | 0 Comments | Saving Solar Water Heating in Oregon