Electric water heaters are inexpensive to buy but are expensive to operate – up to $100 per month. Alberta has high electricity costs and these are forecast to increase as generating and distribution costs escalate. In addition, the majority of Alberta’s electricity is generated from coal which emits large amounts of green-house-gasses (GHG).
Although more expensive to install, a solar water heater provides the homeowner with hot water while saving utility costs and reducing GHG emissions. Alberta has abundant sunshine that can be used year-round for water heating with Simple Solar’s Freedom Won solar heaters.
A family using 250 litres of hot water per day will save $15,000 and prevent 60 tonnes of GHG from entering the atmosphere over 20 years.
For those families that finance a solar heater in the mortgage, they save every month from the they move in. Most families find saving on monthly utilities a good idea because unlike making more money, there is no tax on saving – and the savings will increase as electricity rates go up.
In addition to financial savings and GHG reductions, other benefits of solar heating include increased independence and the satisfaction of producing your own energy.
