During the last three years two things have happened that now make solar thermal installations very cost effective.

Firstly the cost of conventional fossil fuels such as gas, oil and electricity have risen by 70%. These sources of energy are very convenient, have improved the quality of our lives and have made large scale industrial development a reality. There are about 2 million (10%) fuel poverty UK homes that spend more than 10% of their income on home energy. For the rest of us energy is still cheap and we take warm hot water, dishwashers and washing machines for granted. However our current energy comes from finite resources and even under optimistic reserve estimates we only have about 30 years of Oil left. In the process of using these fossil fuels we create a carbon footprint – (link to reducing carbon foot print) that increases the rate of climate change. Scientists and politicians are continually reminding us that the continual process of using these energy sources will threaten the quality of life for our children. (Defra web linkage)

Secondly the cost of the product components of solar thermal installations has come down as production costs have reduced. Over 1 in 500 UK homes now have a solar thermal installation and Germany has 15 times the number of panels than us.

So increasing fossil fuels prices and the reduced cost of solar thermal products now makes the using the power of the sun a commercially viable renewable energy source to heat hot water in our homes. The cost of using the sun as a source of power is nothing and it will not go up in price! Our sun will carry on providing free radiation for billions of years. Using this energy source does not produce carbon emissions and together with wind, wave and other renewable energies it will reduce our dependency on oil, gas and coal. Many people are under the common misconception that solar energy can only work in conditions of bright sunshine and high temperatures and is therefore unsuited to the British climate. Solar panels operate on the principle of light absorption and are not dependent on high temperatures or long spells of unbroken sunshine. The power of the sun in the UK is 60% of its strength at the equator and the UK actually receives more sunshine than Germany.

Installing a solar thermal installation has other benefits. Your conventional boiler will be used less frequently and indeed you should expect little or no usage for 5 months of the year. You should therefore expect lower servicing costs and extend its working lifetime.

The combination of all these factors is shown in the energy savings chart below. For a typical installation as well as reducing your carbon footprint you will save more than £20k. Our research indicates that many people have historically invested in solar thermal installations for ecological or green issues. You can now buy solar systems that will also save you money. The critical factor in this calculation is the assumption that the cost of fossil fuels will grow at 10% per annum which is far less than recent years’ increases. Perhaps the estimated 10% rise is too low as the UK government appears set to tax the high users of energy and combined with the political uncertainty in countries that are rich with fossil fuel reserves perhaps the 10% assumption is too low and the savings will be significantly more.