Success Story of Solar Thermal Water Heaters
Date Issued
August 2004
Author(s)
Abstract
One of the most widely used systems for domestic water heating is the solar thermosyphon
unit. Such a system consists of two flat-plate collector panels 1.35m2 in aperture area each and
a 150 lt hot water cylinder. No pump is required for this system as the hot water is transferred
to storage because of the thermosyphon effect. The system is modeled and simulated with
TRNSYS program for Nicosia and the results show that 6,394 MJ of energy can be provided
per year and the solar contribution is 0.8. The life cycle savings is C£687 and C£485 for
electricity and diesel backup respectively. The pollution created for the production of the
system is estimated by calculating the embodied energy invested in the manufacture,
assembly and installation of the collectors and other parts of the system. For the present
system the embodied energy is found to be 7,260 MJ. By considering the useful energy
collected by the system each year, the embodied energy is recouped in about 1.14 years.
unit. Such a system consists of two flat-plate collector panels 1.35m2 in aperture area each and
a 150 lt hot water cylinder. No pump is required for this system as the hot water is transferred
to storage because of the thermosyphon effect. The system is modeled and simulated with
TRNSYS program for Nicosia and the results show that 6,394 MJ of energy can be provided
per year and the solar contribution is 0.8. The life cycle savings is C£687 and C£485 for
electricity and diesel backup respectively. The pollution created for the production of the
system is estimated by calculating the embodied energy invested in the manufacture,
assembly and installation of the collectors and other parts of the system. For the present
system the embodied energy is found to be 7,260 MJ. By considering the useful energy
collected by the system each year, the embodied energy is recouped in about 1.14 years.
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