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Way back in the day, when you wanted hot water, you were forced to go through the tedious process of filling up bucket after bucket of water, boiling it and then trekking over to your bathtub to pour it in. If you were lucky, you were rich enough to have someone to do it for you. If you weren’t, well, you just had to get used to lukewarm water and a bad back. No wonder bathing was considered taboo in years gone past!
Ever since the advent of the storage water heater, things have certainly improved, with various models being developed to provide heated water to bathers, right from Edwin Ruud’s first electric water heater back in 1889 to the latest advancements in solar power water heating technology.
In fact, solar has become the world’s go to power provider when it comes to heating water. According to figures released by Viessmann, approximately 60% of the world’s hot water is provided through solar energy. In Europe, this figure is even larger, with either solar or boilers being used predominately, while electricity usage has become almost negligible in percentage terms, due to the high CO2 emissions that come with electricity generation.
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Emanuele Stano, the area manager of Ariston Thermo, an Italian electric heater manufacturer, agrees with these figures, and says that solar powered water heaters form a major source of revenue for manufacturers in Europe, with countries like Italy, Spain, France and Germany forming major markets for the water heater manufacturers.
“Our company’s stated aim is to have, by 2020, 80% of our overall revenue generated by renewable energy or energy saving appliances,” Stano says, as he looks to highlight the potential that exists in the market for energy efficient products.
So why then, does this success not translate over to the Middle Eastern markets? After all, if solar power is, as defined by Viessmann, the most ‘sustainable, efficient and reliable type of water heating technology available, especially compared to open loop systems’, then why isn’t universally accepted in the GCC?
While the region has year round sunshine, it’s the other thing that it has in abundance that is hampering the growth of solar powered water heaters in the region, according to Atlantic International’s Serge Raveyre, sales manager for the Near and Middle East.
“In this area, electrical water heaters make up 99% of the market, renewable energy is a very small segment,” he says. “The problem in this area is that electricity and energy is not costing a lot. So to have the payback for such an investment is very long term.”
Given that the major source of electricity in this region comes from oil and gas, two energy fuels that are hardly in short supply, there are no real incentives for users to look to cut down on costs, as electricity rates are amongst the lowest in the world.
The reality is that it is still not economically convenient for consumers in the Middle East to install solar systems to make hot water, especially as the initial costs to install an electrical storage heater are so much lower than the corresponding installation costs for a solar power heater.
Stano agrees, and adds that the success of the technology in Europe has largely been due to the subsidies that the continent’s governments have put into place to encourage consumers to buy the products.
“These type of technologies will succeed in the Middle East when they’re made mandatory by governmental law. Here in the Middle East, when the head of state decides to make things green, it will be made mandatory and everybody will go for it,” he says.
“The issue here is that they’ve started something like LEED points, which is where solar thermal usage will help you get points, but it’s still not mandatory.”
Raveyre adds that the region could learn a lesson from his native France, where consumers get 40% of the cost of their environmentally friendly water heater back from their taxes. In addition, due to the high cost of electricity in Europe, they can reimburse the cost of their investment within three or four years due to the savings that the solar powered water heaters generate.
Forced circulation solar thermal systems use re-circulation lines from the system, Viessmann add, meaning that their conservation of energy and reduction of water wastage is much higher when compared to thermosyphon systems, which work on a gravity fed principle.
The bigger the size of a solar powered system, the smaller the percentage of energy wasted will be.
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During the last 28 years of my buildings related work in Middle East, I have seen both petrol and electricity prices jum