Richmond New Homes Will Be Solar Heat Ready

By Matthew Hoekstra - Richmond Review
Published: July 28, 2010 3:00 PM
Updated: July 28, 2010 3:04 PM

All single-family homes built in Richmond by later this year will be designed to easily accommodate a solar water heating system.
City council voted Monday to add Richmond to the list of communities under B.C.’s new “solar hot water ready regulation,” which will require builders to design houses suitable for solar heat systems.
The new regulation will only apply in cities that request inclusion and could be in place by fall.
Adding a rough-in for solar power has minimal cost to builders—up to $300, city staff estimate. The regulation, said Coun. Ken Johnston, shows “a great deal of vision” given the cost savings to homeowners.
“That’s an amazing incentive down the road when these start to get installed.”
According to SolarBC, a program administered by the BC Sustainable Energy Association and funded by senior governments, a solar hot water system “easily pays for itself” in its lifetime. A system costs, on average, $6,900. The price goes down with a $2,000 point-of-sale rebate, and other discounts are available under the federal ecoEnergy retrofit program.
The cost drops further for a new home roughed-in for a system.

“People are finding as energy prices are starting to rise—and they predict a rise in the future—when they put a solar system in, you’re buying energy security,” said Nitya Harris, executive director of SolarBC. “This is looking at the next 20, 30, 40 years and saying that solar is going to happen here in that time and we’re just making it easier for that to happen.”
SolarBC has a goal of seeing 100,000 solar roofs in B.C. by 2020. California has set a goal of one million by 2017.
Heating water uses 30 per cent of the total energy in homes. A solar water heater can supplement up to 60 per cent of the water heating needs for a typical family of four, and systems are designed to last 20 to 40 years. In sustained sunny weather, such as this July, solar heat can take care of all water heating needs.
Until late August, SolarBC will cover the entire cost of systems installed at schools, universities and hospitals.
Said Harris: “It’s great for schools to get on board, not only as a demonstration project for kids and the community, but also as a way to teach the kids about future skills. And it’s a great demonstration for the community.”

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Solar hot water simplified

1. Solar collectors absorb radiant energy from the sun
2. A pump circulates heated liquid from the panels and through the heat exchanger in the solar storage tank.
3. Heat is transferred to the water in the solar storage tank.
4. Solar heated water is added to the regular hot water tank, ready for use.

* Source: SolarBC