What is the Greenest way to heat your home? Part 3: Solar Water Heating
Energy Efficient and Renewable Heating
What is the Greenest way to heat your home? Part 3: Solar Water Heating
Solar thermal systems are designed as a renewable source of water heat to help reduce the energy used to fuel your immersion heater. The panels are installed on a sun facing roof or wall to collect solar heat that will provide the majority of hot water requirements during the summer months and still make a significant contribution throughout winter.
How much will Solar Water Heating reduce my energy bills by?
It has been brought to the publics attention recently that some sales people promoting solar renewable heating have been mis-representing the products.
Some salesmen have been making unrealistic promises about how much energy the system can save your household. A typical sales claim is that you could reduce your total heating bill by 75% when you install a solar thermal system. The truth is that solar heating can reduce your water heating bill by between 50-75%.
What is The Renewable Heat Incentive?
The UK government has also introduced The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)
scheme which offers homeowners that have installed renewable heating systems with monetary rewards for the amount of energy efficient heat that they produce.
The Renewable Heat Incentive is available for businesses, homeowners, landlords and public buildings which invest in renewable heating systems including; Solar heating, biomass heating, ground source heating and air source heating.
Your home will be assessed to receive an Energy Performance Certificate which will provide information about the suitability of your home for the RHI including how well it is insulated.
What does it cost to install Solar Water Heating ?
To get the most efficient benefit from your solar heating installation, you will first need to ensure that your home is properly insulated. The amount of energy produced by solar heat will be most effective if no heat is escaping from your home.
The typical cost of installing Solar thermal heating is about £4,800. You will also require an accredited installer to carry out maintenance every 3-5 years.
Compared to a typical condensing gas boiler, you could make an annual saving on your energy bills of £50. You will also provide an annual CO2 saving of 250g. Following the estimated grant offered by the RHI, you could also receive an additional £300.
Which companies offer the greenest solar thermal heating ?
The top five rated companies for ethical and environmental ratings by Ethical Consumer for solar thermal systems :
| Solar Thermal Company | Ethical Consumer Rating (out of 20) |
|---|---|
| Atlas Solar Thermal | 14.5 |
| Filsol Solar Thermal | 14.5 |
| Lazer2 Solar Thermal | 14.5 |
| Solarfire Thermal Panel | 13.5 |
| Solar Century Solar Thermal | 12.5 |
The bottom five rated companies for ethical and environmental ratings for solar thermal systems :
| Solar Thermal Company | Ethical Consumer Rating (out of 20) | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingspan Solar Thermal | 11.5 | |
| Main solar thermal heating | 11.5 | |
| Potterton solar thermal heating | 11.5 | |
| Remeha solar thermal heating | 11.5 </ | |
| Stiebel Eltron solar thermal heating | 11.5 |
You can download the full report by Ethical Consumer for £3 or by subscribing.
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