Vermont sunshine cooks up savings with solar hot water

February 8, 2012

With the recent boom in solar panel construction through many southwest American states, Vermont homeowners may assume that installing a solar hot water system is only a worthwhile investment for residents of warm weather regions.

However, a recent study by the green construction consulting firm Oikos showed that solar water heaters can cook up impressive results in snowy states, too. From the Pacific Northwest to New England, homeowners who installed the systems typically cut their water heating bills in half.

That quickly adds up to real savings when most American families dedicate at least 25 percent of their total home energy costs to water heating.

Solar water heaters slash that spending by pre-heating water before it enters the hot water tank. Feeding warm water to the boiler means that the heating equipment needs much less energy - whether it consumes propane, biofuel or electricity - to deliver the 64 gallons of hot water used every day by the average household.

Another study showed that solar hot water worked well in Vermont, with the greatest savings accruing to larger homes.

"Our preliminary analysis showed that customers who use more than 4,000 kWh per year for water heating should consider solar," said Nicholas Sinos, a project manager with Central Vermont Public Service. "The 10 systems we installed and monitored provided about 50 percent of the energy needed to heat water over a year."