What is Digg?Sponsored by AVG
CNET Top Weekly Download for Free Anti-Virus view!
free.avg.com - 2.4 million people a week get AVG Anti-Virus Free, for the best protection against web threats.
85 Comments
- TheSexyGeek, on 07/08/2008, -0/+34Barbados does this too. The term "Water Heater" is synonymous with "Solar Water Heater" in Barbados. My Family had one and it worked perfectly. We never had a problem with hot water.
I think that countries with climates that can support them should start adopting them on a broad scale. They'll put a serious dent in the electricity consumption of the community. - mmgm, on 07/08/2008, -2/+21That's true indeed. In fact, I always thought the whole world has solar water heaters! Was I wrong?
- pradaaddict, on 07/09/2008, -2/+19Well it's hot as balls in Israel. Try getting those things to be as efficient in Canada or Scandinavia
- wh3873, on 07/09/2008, -0/+15I'm currently living in Egypt and we have solar heating for our water as well, but you guys have to understand it's not Photovoltaic cells. Basically it's a form of solar oven, clear glass with the inside painted black and a pipe running thorough it. The water does get really hot but today it was near 100 F by 0830. So while this stuff is cool and I'm guess pretty cheap it won't be warming coco in Colorado. This is good stuff I hope it does catch on in hotter climates.
- leubstop, on 07/09/2008, -2/+16Israel is planning on being first country to roll out a 100% electric car with recharging infrastructure. There are also cities in israel which have been planned and built by its inception to be "green"
http://pinetreekingdom.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/is ... - sustainablogger, on 07/08/2008, -0/+13This is such an easy technology to adapt, also... not nearly as complicated at solar PV systems. And relatively cheap...
- inactive, on 07/08/2008, -0/+11Sadly, I'm yet to see very many countries making solar water heaters mandatory, or even common...
- nlevy, on 07/09/2008, -2/+12Why make this political?
- inactive, on 07/09/2008, -3/+12Israel doesn't have any oil, most Muslim countries (which have most of the oil) refuse to sell to them, and due to these reasons they must have utilities like solar water heaters. Not only are they completely unaffiliated with U.S. oil, but if anything they would want us to get less reliant on oil so they could purchase more oil from us.
- bolophojep, on 07/09/2008, -0/+8Umm, Solar heaters use the sun to heat the water.
It is just water pumped through black pipes in a black box. - known, on 07/09/2008, -6/+14Israel Rocks!
- neko6, on 07/09/2008, -1/+9You do know the US doesn't give money - they give billions $'s worth of MILITARY EQUIPMENT, most of it old equipment that the US military used in Vietnam and afterward?
- nlevy, on 07/09/2008, -1/+9I used to live in Israel as well and when I moved to the U.S. I was shocked that I couldn't find a single home with them.
- hep2djive, on 07/08/2008, -3/+10Now THAT is cool
- Mardala, on 07/09/2008, -2/+8well with the hole in the ozone, sun radiation is stronger ... I'm just saying.
I am surprised how little the US uses Solar. With 500 billion spent on a senseless war, just think how much of that money could go to get homes more efficient. One of these days the US will catch on. - neko6, on 07/09/2008, -2/+8You do know Palestinians have faucets in their home that run water, right? You do know Israelis pump this water? You do know they get electricity generated by Israel FOR FREE, even though Israeli power plants often fail to supply the demand inside Israel, causing power failures? You do know Israeli technicians fix power failures to Gaza UNDER ROCKET FIRE from Gaza?
They don't use irrigation because they're too poor to set it up. Nobody prohibits them, they can build whatever they want. Hell, they build hundreds of rockets each year, I'm sure they can easily build irrigation if they want to. What does being "allocated water" mean? If you turn on the faucet for too long it'll stop pumping because Israel has a minicomputer inside the faucet that stops pumping after a limit was reached?
They don't control the water resources because they have no government and control NOTHING. Why? Because they REFUSED to establish one that doesn't include the land that belongs to Israel. - Suricou, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5I've been to some greek islands - Rhodes, Zakynthos - and saw there that solar heating is near universial. To judge from the weather, likely for economic reasons. It took a year for the sunburn scars to heal completly.
They also have a lot of buildings that arn't quite finished... one of the locals informed me that this is a tax dodge. - geeXP, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5The Israeli Knesset passed a law here in the 70s requiring all new homes (except high-rises with insufficient roof space) to install Solar Water Heaters.
This was during the energy crisis in the 70s... Perhaps this current energy crisis is the wake-up call for other countries to follow suit. - Bukowsky, on 07/09/2008, -1/+6Texas is pretty much hot & sunny all the time. I wouldn't mind having one here... Do they sell these at Home Depot?
- DarkShroud, on 07/09/2008, -1/+6Then maybe Palestinian parents shouldn't send their children to throw rocks at the Israel soldiers or give them realistic looking toy guns and send them to play by the border walls & gates. Yeah, they sure care about their children.
- medfreak, on 07/09/2008, -1/+6Israel gets almost half of their oil supply from Egypt through Sinai peninsula.
http://www.slate.com/id/2145704/ - inactive, on 07/09/2008, -3/+7Worse, just like all technology. Is this really something to wonder about?
- Bhima, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4That is not true. You can have solar hot water in climates much colder and further north than Colorado. The Germans are doing it and they are much further north and get about as many days below freezing.
- nitr021, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3Every home in mauritius has solar water heaters except for the slums....
- valtgrafik, on 07/09/2008, -3/+6beautiful story, slowly but surely we are turning into an environmentalist society :)
- DarkShroud, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3There is a simple conversion kit you can buy to attach to any existing water heater. You just have to attach the device to the roof with a few screws and run one hose to the water heater. But I don't think many local stores carry them.
- DarkShroud, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3It's not that bad, I used to live in one that was built in the 70s. The problem is many areas didn't allow them because they looked unsightly. The new ones can be mounted on the back of the roof and are not visible from the street.
- Bhima, on 07/09/2008, -1/+4You would be amazed at how effective evacuated tube solar is. You can use them well into Canada.
- AndyStitzer, on 07/09/2008, -6/+8I wonder what a 1950s solar panel was like
- thespanielator, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2The idea in moderate climates is to use solar heating as a prestage to your water heater. Although Baxi (large boiler maker here in the uk) is incorporating stirling engines in to the next generation of their equipment.
http://www.chpa.co.uk/news/news_downloads/2006/130 ... - inthe80s, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Had one of these in the 80s and 90s in my house. Not worth the cost to install in New England. Want hot water in the morning? Run the backup electric and wait half an hour. Cloudy today? run the backup, etc.
I'm sure after 25 years it paid for itself, but the work and inconvenience was never worth it. I finally removed it for good when it came time to replace the roof. In a hot climate it probably makes a lot of sense, but then how much hot water do you need or want when it's 90F outside? - blackjack75, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2While there's no law forcing anyone to put solar panels the government here (Switzerland) gives help to people who want to build a house with renewable energy. In my city they will also pay for a part of your electric bike (a bike with a battery to help you go up the hill).
At some point it the responsibility of the government to give incentives and help, be in in the form of tax breaks, to help green energy. It's part of its role which consists of making every citizen's life better. - monoa, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2$500 billion (~$6000 per household) would've paid for every home in America to be fitted with solar.
- anillop, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Proof please?
- rxbudian, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1It's easy to have a cheap solar water heater. just buy an external water reservoir tank and in summer, it gets so hot that it heats up the water in the tank...
Back home, all the water tanks are outside so the water gets heated up all the time. we couldn't control the temperature, but it's usually warm enough for us to use without having to add cold water. Of course after a whole damn day in the heat, we really didn't want to take baths in warm water. - OropheR, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Already done.
- illuminea, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Since you like water statistics so much, here are some more tidbits about Israeli and Palestinian water:
1. The Palestinians are not only allocated their fair share of water in according with the Oslo agreements, but at least up to the end of 2007 they received 30% MORE water than was designated in the agreements.
2. Water is delivered to the entrance of Palestinian towns and villages, whereupon it becomes the responsibility of their local authorities. The local authorities are not fulfilling their responsibilities, and Palestinians are drilling holes in the pipelines and stealing the water.
3. The Palestinian Authority is building illegal water wells that are destroying the aquifers, an important source of water for the region.
4. Israel recycles increasing amounts of sewage, while 73% of Palestinian sewage flows untreated back into Israel (!). 19% of PA sewage is treated within Israel and 8% by the Palestinians themselves. By treating the waste water, the Palestinians could add 35 mill cube per year for their agriculture
5. If Israel was indeed doing anything illegal/against Oslo on water, UNESCO and UNRWA would be shouting about it all over the place, but they're not. They carefully monitor this stuff.
6. By what criteria are you judging who needs/uses more water? A lot of the water Israel uses goes towards growing crops that the Palestinians consume.
7. The surface water that you mention in the Jordan basin comes from water flowing out of 3 rivers flowing into the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). One of those rivers, Snir or Hatsbani, was partially blocked by the Lebanese in the 1990s, an act which is essentially a declaration of war under international law. I'd like to hear someone complain about that.
Everyone's desperate for water in the Middle East. That the Palestinians are also desperate does not make them more right. - nocash23, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1its called the internet.... your on it.... use it.
- Bigfork, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1...geothermal.
- TheKorn2, on 07/09/2008, -2/+3Solar makes sense in the desert southwest, and is starting to be used there. In the north, though, it doesn't make any sense. (A solar water heater would turn into a *frozen* water heater.)
- RazorElite, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Yes, this has been standard in Barbados for many years.
- tehbored, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Might have been a good idea to look into an insulated tank. I know when I stayed at a relative's house in Israel, there was hot water all day.
- FolkTheory, on 07/09/2008, -1/+2they probably ran on coal.
- HellifIno, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Nah, you detect useless.
That research station is in Antarctica. Sure, they get some sun and no night for a month or so, but it's not strong sun. Marginal energy replenished via solar panels, if they had any. - DarkShroud, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1The problem is my area still gets a hell of a beating in winter storms, we get a lot more than just snow. The one I used to have (I moved) was from the 70s. I'm well aware of the modern advances as I'm all for solar and wind. I'm also limited by local restrictions. I can't park in the lower part of my drive way during the day nor can I even fence in my back yard since I live on a corner and can't get too close to the sidewalk. So I can't use the more durable kits in my area anyway. Only the old ones that were grandfathered in are still allowed and they don't let you put them back up if you replace your roof.
- jenine1234, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1This is a great idea. Places that have a climate that can support the solar heaters should start using them. If a lot of people start using them, it would drastically decrease the amout of energy consumption. They are relatively cheap and if you have one long enough, it'll pay for itself. I currently have one in my home and despite what people say, I never have a problem with hot water. There is this great ebook that I read to learn more about them. It is called How To Use the Solar Energy and you can find it at booksonboard.com. I highly recommend it if you are considering a solar heater or just want to learn more about them.
- AndreiOttawa, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Good point. The article called solar heater "solar panels" a few times. It seems that the author was in a big hurry to write it and submit it to digg... pretty lame
- rompom7, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Do I detect sarcasm?
- rompom7, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Useless. No. IDIOTIC.
Solar water heaters directly transfer the suns heat to the water. This is clearly not going to work in Antarctica where the annual mean temperature is −49 °C (−56 °F).
Hence my sarcasm call. -
Show 51 - 90 of 90 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is