According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the majority of Australian homes use electricity as their primary method for heating hot water. With heating water accounting for 23% of a household's energy consumption (the second largest use of energy within the home) it is easy to see why people are beginning to look into cost and energy saving options. This issue is compounded as more is known on the detrimental impact of greenhouses gases on the world. The heating of hot water is responsible for 24% of greenhouse gases emitted by an average household and this, in addition to rising energy costs, has led an increasing number of Australian's to look for alternatives, with ten percent of households now using solar hot water systems in their homes.
What is Solar Hot Water?
Solar hot water (also known as a solar thermal system) uses flat panels, or evacuated tubes, as solar collectors to absorb the energy from the sun. This energy is then used to heat a home's hot water. These systems are typically able to provide between fifty and ninety percent of a household's hot water needs (dependent on location and the amount of sunlight the panels are exposed to) so to ensure a home has constant hot water available, solar hot water is often used in tandem with more traditional methods, such as a booster or immersion heater, which kicks in to heat hot water in circumstances where the solar energy available may be limited.
What Are the Benefits of Solar Hot Water?
The initial cost outlay of having a solar hot water system fitted in your home is often more than the cost of more traditional water heating measures. However, the upfront cost of the system is recovered over its lifetime through the reduction in energy bills that a household fitted with the solar hot water system benefits from. These costs will be recovered over a shorter period of time for those living within larger households or those in areas that have more exposure to sunlight.
Installing a solar hot water system to a home is one of the best ways to reduce a household's carbon footprint, as the energy used to heat hot water is gathered from a renewable source rather than one that is non-renewable and creates greenhouse gases as is the case with those hot water systems heated by electricity or gas.
With the benefits to the environment, and the reduction in energy bills a household can experience, it is easy to see why an increasing number of Australians are turning to solar hot water systems to provide their hot water.
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