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Solar thermal water heaters are a retro technology at this point. It's simpler and easier to install PV panels driving a heat pump water heater.
by pfdietz 2y ago
Solar thermal water heaters are a retro technology at this point. It's simpler and easier to install PV panels driving a heat pump water heater.
- EdwardDiego 2y agoYes, at this point. At the time, they were not.
- NewJazz 2y agoSeriously everyone critiquing 40 year old projects like they just had PVs laying around in the 70s.
- pfdietz 2y agoAnd people incorrectly saying Reagan had PV panels pulled down, the troglodyte. /s That solar thermal collectors never really caught on in the US shows the technology was marginal and the decision to remove them (I think when they leaked?) was arguably a good one.
- yyyk 2y agoIt's not that retro. In some places in the world it's still very common, and heat pumps very uncommon. It's a response that makes sense in the right climate (and I should note Carter did create a tax credit program for it, though it never got popular in the US).
- smolder 2y agoIt's still used in some projects. I remember seeing a deep dive into a net zero lodge (for vacationing) someone built just a few years ago that featured all of those: solar water preheating & PV on the roof, as well as heat pump HVAC/water heaters. Perhaps now it would be cheaper to just beef up the PV and active water heating but I'm sure they had their reasons at the time, at least.