The Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts of Generalization of Solar Water Heaters

This paper aims to quantify the three main aspects of sustainable development, the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the generalization of solar water heaters in Marrakech. In order to conduct this Impact assessment study, we used both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The impact assessment analysis has been done on three different levels: households, Tourism, and private and public institutions. The generalization of SWH at the scale of the city of Marrakech will be in this perspective the origin of a profit today neglected. The resulting impact, both economically and socially, would be great. It is also beneficial and concerns the natural and sanitary environment. Nationally, the direct financial impact of the generalization of SWH at the direct city level is around $ 15 million. The generalization of solar water heaters in Morocco will reduce the national energy bill by 1.3%.

Decoupling the Monitoring of Solar Water Heaters and their Usage Profiles

South Africa is the most technologically advanced nation in Africa. However, the country is plagued with constant load shedding. The country receives about 2500 sunshine hours annually, with daily average irradiation levels of 4.5–6.5 kWh/m2. Despite these potentials, the use of electricity for domestic water heating is still prevalent in the country. The mass rollout of solar water heating (SWH) technologies in the low-cost housing sector across the country were met with massive failures. This study aims to assess the energy yield of a passive flat plate and an evacuated tube solar water heating system by evaluating the performance of these systems to address the energy crisis in South Africa. The flat plate (FP) and evacuated tube (ET) solar water heating systems were monitored for four days, characterised by varying sky conditions through instantaneous data measurement at 5 s. The parameters measured were water temperature, ambient temperature, irradiance at the plane of array, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. The results obtained show that a maximum irradiance of 1050 W/m2 was obtained on a clear day and corresponded to a hot water temperature of about 58 °C and 65 °C for the FP and ET, respectively. However, a cloudy day with a maximum irradiance of 400 W/m2 produced about 22 °C and 29 °C of hot water for the FP and ET, respectively. The results obtained in this study will guide stakeholders in the renewable energy sector towards employing SWH systems to replace or augment the electric geyser. Solar water heaters (SWH) can be used in the low-cost housing sector to provide hot water. Hence, the assessments in this study offer essential information for the deployment of these systems to reduce demand on the ailing South African electricity utility, Eskom, and mitigate climate change.

Thermal and Environmental Analysis Solar Water Heater System for Residential Buildings

Due to the reduction of fossil resources, the replacement of renewable energy sources such as solar energy has become mandatory. Solar energy does not contain pollution and widely available in all parts of the world, especially in warm regions. Our country (IRAN) is geographically located in a hot and dry region, and with more than 280 sunny days per year, one of the nonpower applications of solar energy is heating space and water consumption of the building using solar thermal energy. Solar water heaters can be used to heat the water used in buildings, which is the main purpose of this study. Water heating consumes an average of 20% to 30% of the total energy consumption in the residential building. Therefore, using solar water heaters annually can provide 70% of the energy needed for water heating. The system designed in this research is able to provide 75% of the hot water consumption needs. If an auxiliary heat source is used next to this system, all hot water needs of the building can be met throughout the year. In this case, as much as 237.3 kWh, energy will be saved from fossil energy sources.

Assessment and Modeling of Household-Scale Solar Water Heater Application in Zambia: Technical, Environmental, and Energy Analysis

Solar water heaters (SWHs) are one of the most effective plans for general and easy use of solar energy to supply hot water in domestic and industrial sectors. This paper gives the first-ever attempts to assess the optimal localization of SWHs across 22 major cities in Zambia, as well as determine the possibility of hot water generation and model the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission saving. The climate data used is extracted by using the MeteoSyn software which is modeled in TSOL™. Results show the high potential of GHG emission reduction due to nonconsumption of fossil fuels owing to the deployment of SWHs, and three cities Kabwe, Chipata, and Mbala had the highest GHG mitigation by 1552.97 kg/y, 1394.8 kg/y, and 1321.39 kg/y, respectively. On average, SWHs provide 62.47% of space heating and 96.05% of the sanitary hot water requirement of consumers. The findings have shown the potential for the deployment of SWHs in Zambia. The techno-enviro study in this paper can be used by the policymakers of Zambia and countries with similar climates.