Spotlight on Solar Thermal Energy

I caught up with Allison Aley the other day to talk about a hot topic: Solar Thermal Energy. She had an addition put on her home in '08 which faced directly into the sun. She felt it was a perfect opportunity to add some panels and heat up her water. See below for more info on how she did this.

What made you decide to go with Solar Thermal Energy (STE)? When did you install it?  Did you receive any incentives, such as state income tax credits?

When I was growing up, my step-mom raised me with the sensibility of using alternative energy sources by having a passive solar panel installed on our house. When we did our addition on the house in 2008 we felt like we could investigate other alternative sources. We called CMLP and spoke to John O’Dell who handled alternative energy and he came to our house with a sundial. He measured the sun that came onto our property and said we had a great reading for solar thermal vs. photovoltaic. I felt it would make a ton of sense to use this to warm our hot water heater. When we built the addition, we made sure the roof faced the sun. Once we decided to do it it was a no brainer. Today, it runs seamlesslessly.

It was installed in the Spring of 2008 and yes, we did receive tax credits. The contractor we went with did all paperwork, which was so nice. By the spring of ’09 we were able to claim our rebate on our taxes. It was a great incentive.

What do you see are the benefits of STE? Were there any drawbacks?

Benefits – I feel anything where you can create energy without using fossil fuels is a no brainer and a tremendous benefit. I wish we could do all of it. We are pretty close to having a whole house system to store energy.

Drawbacks – It costs more money to install them, but it will pay us back over the longer term. The only other drawback I see is if you don’t like the look of the panels on your roof, you may be disappointed.

How long did it take to install from start to finish? Was it difficult to install?

It took 3 days total. The contractor was really great. They were all inclusive with their service. They were really friendly, gave me an accurate estimate, then talked me through it so I understood each line item. The installation went like clockwork. I feel it worked well with a new addition, but I’m not sure how easy it would be to install on an existing house/roof.  However, I’m sure it’s done all the time.

Do you have low, medium or high collector solar panels or a combination? Is there any benefit to having one type over another?

I’m not sure, but I do know we have 3 solar collectors, facing south, affixed to the pitch of our roof.

We understand you heat your hot water with your solar panels. Do you use it in any other places in your home, such as radiant floor heating? Can you tell me how the solar panels work to heat your water?

We use it strictly to heat our hot water. It works by using copper tubes that go through the panel that are filled with something like anti freeze (called “food grade”) and that circulates through the panels then circulates through a tank downstairs. We have two hot water tanks: a normal one and a solar water tank. The water in the solar tank gets preheated to about 160 degrees then goes into the regular hot water heater. 

That brings me to my next question which is, what happens in the winter, when it’s cold and cloudy? Do you have a backup system?

By code you can’t have less than two tanks as I described. I do notice that snow doesn’t stay on the solar panels for very long. We have so much sun on the side with the panels which is also south facing, that we get plenty of heat that is stored up in the tanks and we find doesn’t take a lot of sun to heat up the water. 

Is it difficult to maintain? What things do you have to do to keep it in good working condition?  How often do you have to service them?

No they're very easy to maintain. Every few years, they change out the coolant in the pipes.

Have you had any problems with it so far? If so, what were they?

None.

Was there an installer that you liked/would recommend to our readers?

Nexamp is their name and they’re out of N. Andover MA. They’re friendly, professional, knowledgable, and patient when I asked many questions about the install. Everything went the way it was supposed to. After it was going for a little while, they called me to follow up.  I believe their company has also expanded to doing geothermal installs, as well as solar installs. The names you want to contact are: Emily Dahl, Marketing Manager at NexAmp, and Will Thompson, their SVP of construction and the person who worked wonderfully with us.

In addition, we have a co-generation furnace, which is a generator beside furnace, running on natural gas. It also generates electricity as I’m running the furnace. A good energy saver.

Is there anything else our readers should know about STE?

Just that once you commit to it, it’s so easy to do and it’s not a big deal. If people are doing home additions, it’s even easier. I feel more people should be doing it but you have to have the money to invest in it.

The final net cost to install it was $11,000.00. $14,000.00 then $3,000.00 of incentives. I would recommend this type of installation to anyone who may be thinking of an addition that's south facing, or already has a roof that is pitched toward the south.