Cleantech startup Sunnovations Inc. announced the commercial availability of its breakthrough solar hot water system for American homes.
Solar hot water, a clean and free power source, is an incredibly underexploited technology in the US, despite the fact that homeowners can save up to 75% on their water heating bill and remediate several tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year, all the while having the same usage experience as a regular water heating system. Sunnovations and its passive “geyser-pump” system removes many of the real and perceived barriers to entry for homeowners, allowing for maintenance-free operation suitable for all climate zones.
“The time has finally arrived for solar hot water in the US”, said Sunnovations Founder and President Arnoud van Houten. “Our patent-pending system does away with the electro-mechanical equipment that is required in other systems, resulting in a far more cost effective, easier to install and reliable solar hot water system.”
Hot water production is both the second largest user of power and source of greenhouse gas emissions in American homes, according to the US Department of Energy’s Buildings Energy Data Book. In a given year, between 7 and 8 million replacement water heaters are sold in the US; switching even a small percentage to solar will have a substantial positive environmental impact.
Sunnovations Chief Executive Officer Matt Carlson stated, “the cost saving and environmental remediation opportunity that solar hot water represents has been sorely underappreciated in the US. Sunnovations has set out to change that by bringing clarity to the cost-saving and environmental benefits to the homeowner as well as standardization and simplicity to the technology behind solar hot water systems.”
Continued Carlson, “through our extensive field trials we have been incredibly gratified by the positive response of the solar professional installer community. Our Installer Partners represent many of the largest and most experienced firms doing solar hot water installations in the region.”
Sunnovations’ system is available exclusively through leading residential alternative energy installers in the mid-Atlantic region including Pennsylvania, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia and North Carolina. Barry Kindt, President of SECCO Inc., a leading alternative energy firm based in Camp Hill, PA, said: “SECCO is thrilled to be partnering with Sunnovations on their commercial launch. There is tremendous pent-up demand for solar hot water technology in our central Pennsylvania operating region given the substantial state and federal incentives available. Sunnovations’ technology will be opening a lot of homeowners’ eyes to the savings and environmental impact reduction of solar hot water, and we intend to aggressively get the word out.”