Solar Thermal Hot Water Heating

Here’s a 3D animation of a solar thermal tracking system that a reader sent me just now.

There is no doubt in my mind that solar thermal hot water heating has a great deal of merit; in fact, I really love the “Plexisun” concept, which is among our list of renewable energy investment opportunities.  It’s great for commercial uses where large volumes of hot water are required, e.g., dairy barns and beer breweries, as well as domestic use, e.g., heating pools.

Having said that, all concepts in this space are not created equal, and this one won’t work.  The challenge here is to make this cost-effective, which will be impossible; the cost of solar tracking will not begin to pay for itself.  The claim that most people will find this more aesthetically pleasing than a roof-mounted system I also find fantastically hard to believe.