Six Weeks of Solar Hot Water Part V: Back to the Future!

Hello again! After a short break, I am back with another installment of “Six Weeks of Solar Hot Water.”

There is a fantastic article in National Geographic this month about renewable energy and China. The writer details the unique mix of renewable energy deployment and old-style pollution that have become synonymous with the superpower.  Two passages in particular caught my attention:

Regarding solar thermal in China:

Himin's main products are those humble solar-thermal tubes that covered the rooftops in Rizhao. And as it turns out, they cover a lot of other real estate. Huang Ming, who founded the company, estimates that it's erected more than 160 million square feet of solar water heaters. "That means 60 million families, maybe 250 million people altogether—almost the population of the United States,"

Regarding the skyline in Rizhao:

We clambered over the hotel's solar-thermal system, an array of vacuum tubes that takes the sun's energy and turns it into all the hot water the kitchen and 102 rooms can possibly use. Then, from the edge of the roof, we took in a view of the spreading skyline. On top of every single building for blocks around a similar solar array sprouted.

There are two key elements at work here:

1. The widespread adoption of a technology
2. The sufficient urban density to make that adoption efficient and attractive.

In Rizhao, SHW panels are found on all kinds of densely packed urban rooftops from apartment buildings to commercial offices. Perhaps North America’s traditional preference for distanced living/work space – space that must be transversed by gas guzzling automobiles – is one of the contributing factors holding back the wide-spread adoption of solar thermal.

Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institution recently made this point at a luncheon I attended in Hamilton, ON.  His presentation described generational attitudes towards the American dream and high-density urban vs. suburban lifestyles.  Mr. Leinberger believes that as newer generations become more attracted to high-density urban settings, their attitude towards everything – from environmentalism at large to renewable energy in particular – will change drastically (and hopefully, for the better).

Of course, arguments questioning the sustainability of suburbia are nothing new.  Consider this music-video clip from Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future (1985), which shows a dated 1950s-style urban center. There are lots of independent businesses, a library, kids playing – overall, a depiction of a high-energy, high-density urban center at times 1:19 and 1:57:

And then there is Marty McFly's urban nightmare: people have left the city center for suburban developments and the resulting space vacuum is only occupied by criminals and vagrants which you can watch here.

Both visions of urban space in Back to the Future are certainly exaggerated, but they do effectively express a popular interpretation of what is deemed suitable living space for many North Americans.  The current "Gen-Xers" have become friendlier to high-density urban environments - nearly every 1990's sitcom seemed to reflect the “big city.” Seinfeld is one notable series, that in its own unique way, adulated big city living - as exemplified by this scene.

It seems both intuitively and analytically accurate to say that newer generations (and new home and apartment buyers) are significantly more open to working and living in urban landscapes.  The high-line in NYC, the city centre revitalizations of Pittsburgh and Nashville, along with many other examples of positive urban planning/renewal across North America, point toward a civic re-engagement with high-density spaces.

I think that this return of attention towards the city will ultimately be one of the most critical factors in pushing for widespread adoption of renewable energy and solar thermal in the US and Canada. Consider these factors:

1. Rooftop solar for high-density apartment and commercial buildings is more efficient to install and maintain than retrofitting one-residency at a time or serving new houses.
2. The visibility factor is significantly improved in high-density urban areas, especially for installations serving a large number of residents.
3. Adding renewable energy to a commercial or large residential building adds value without as much direct personal risk for the customer.
4. Cities drive the economy and social conversations.  While rural deployment of renewable energy is currently attractive due to gas and oil pains, a city is a powerful engine to drive widespread renewable energy adoption efficiently.

Mr. Leinberger predicted a boom in urban renewable energy during his address which you can listen to here.

If you need yet more examples of the connection between urban spaces and SHW, then read SolarFred’s recent accounts of touring renewable energy in China and watch this last video:

Solar-tastic in China from Greenpeace China on Vimeo.

Until next time!

A big thank you goes out to “plug and play” solar hot water systems provider Alpha Thermal Systems, the sponsor of this series of blog posts and resources toward helping solar hot water grow in North America.