EECA

This is a presentation of the research done by the Environmental Energy Solutions Ltd. for the development and testing of their prototype solar heat system. The particularities consisted in the large, low cost solar collector integrated into the roof or wall cladding system and its integrated water sourced heat pump and thermal storage system. A prototype was installed on a house in Wellington, providing year-round performance data. This report was done with the support of the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

This case study is the result of a partnership between New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), the country’s dairy farmers and technical experts, showing the benefits of solar water heating and waste heat recovery systems used to reduce energy costs.

Because of the climatic conditions of New Zealand and the positive impact of solar water heating technologies the country’s authorities encourage the use of this type of installations. This resulted in the issuing of a free guide by the country’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

The New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Building Research commissioned BRANZ to undertake an independent research study on the quality of solar water heaters in New Zealand, in terms of installation quality, energy performance and durability.

Conclusions of the study point out that in terms of quality, the systems analysed are very diverse, which denotes that there is still some issues in the application of standard practices.

The dream team: This team of installers from New Zealand-based company Solar Technology Systems needed only a few days to install 300 m² of vacuum tube collectors on the roof of a swimming pool complex.
Photo: Solar Technology Systems