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increases the value of your home dollar for dollar, pays you 30-50% back on your next tax bill, and pays
you back 14% per year. I can thnk of no other nvestment that even comes close. So why haven't
people jumped on the bandwagon?
Unfortunately there are many reasons. Frst, lack of famlarty wth the technology. When
many people thnk of solar they are nterested n powerng ther mcrowave or refrgerator. However,
anywhere from 12-30% of a home's energy bll s used for generatng hot water. If you consder hot
water plus space heat, that number goes up to as hgh as 50%. I would attrbute the confuson over
solar to the amount of press that has gone nto coverng the solar electrc ndustry.
Second, they thnk the collectors look ugly on the roof. I have ncluded a number of pctures of
nstalled solar collectors n ths book and wll let you decde. In a country where we ddn't thnk t too ugly
to run power lnes everywhere, ddn't thnk televson antennae, satellte dshes, and roof penetratons
for vent pipes were too ugly, I find the inconsistency in this argument to be challenging. I will address
one approach to make them more cosmetcally appealng n the secton "Stng of Collectors."
Thrd, people don't know where to go to get one nstalled. Ths s a very real concern. There
are two webstes: www.findsolar.com and www.sourcegudes.com that wll pont you n the drecton of
solar nstallers n your area. The number of people dong nstallatons s pretty low. The number of
people advertsng that they do nstallatons s even lower. Ths shortage of nstallers drves the cost
and aggravaton up. Part of the motvaton for wrtng ths book s to help elmnate ths concern. I am
hopng to do that n two ways. For those of you that are nterested n nstallng a system, I am hopng
that I wll provde the detals and encouragement to go out there and do t. There are a few who wll
have ths nstalled on ther own home and feel called to spread the word by gettng out there and helpng
others nstall systems. I applaud ths group and want to be here to support you as you try to change
the world.
Fnally, there are people who wll clam they want to nstall one, but can't because of zonng
rules. Many states have solar access laws where the ablty to nstall a solar hot water system s wrtten
nto state law and trumps any local zonng regulatons. If your state doesn't have solar access laws,
I encourage you to contact your state representative to make sure it gets addressed during the next
sesson.
-Dan Gretsch
© SOLARHOT 2006-2009
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