Commercial Solar Hot Water
Rowland Court Apartments
300 Broce Drive
Blacksburg, VA
Apartment owner Dave Roper came to us with a desire to make his building more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Long a proponent of all things green, Dave also wanted to show what other property owners could achieve to lessen their energy needs. The fact that hot water was already included in the tenant's rent, made the addition of a solar hot water system appealing.
Initially, each of the twelve apartments was served by their own electric hot water heater. To integrate solar water heating, these tanks were plumbed together to form a district hot water system. Our "solar storage tank," became the combined volume of the existing tanks; 400 gallons in this case. Two tanks were omitted from the circulation loop to provide backup heat for times of low solar resource. The water in the storage loop is pumped through a heat exchanger in the attic that pulls heat from the solar collectors.
Five Apricus AP-30 collectors, mounted on the south wall, capture the sun's heat. This type of collector was chosen for several reasons. First, the building's east/west roof orientation did not favor a rooftop install. The south wall faces almost true south, so was well suited for mounting. Secondly, the space available on the wall for the collectors was a limiting factor in our goal to provide over half of the building's hot water. Evacuated tubes have a higher energy density per area than do flat plate collectors. This meant that we could capture the same amount of solar energy in less space. Finally, the installation of the tubes in an awning configuration provided mid-day shade for residents and added visual appeal to the building as a whole.
Dave has been very pleased with his system and is seeing the benefits already. "I was very pleased with the quality of the work and the fact that I was consulted at every stage of the planning and installation. I highly recommend Baseline Solar Solutions for solar-energy installations."
