A very interesting article over at Environmental Graffiti looks at the role water heaters play in China. For those of you who have been reading Crossroads for a while, you will remember the piece the Green Brothers did on Rizhao’s solar water heater usage. It was a very interesting piece where we learned that over 90% of the population in Rizhao has adopted teh technology. Well, according to the Environmental Graffiti article China’s Solar Hot Water Capacity Will Soon be Equivalent to 40 Nuclear Plants readers are shown just how much energy all these units are saving China. Richard Chambers puts forward these facts:

• A solar water heater in China costs less than $200. Without one, a family wanting hot water would have to buy an electric water heater for about the same price and pay up to $120 per year for electricity. The payback is almost instantaneous.
• By relying on the sun, the citizens of Rizhao have cut carbon dioxide emissions by almost 53 thousand tons per year. Air quality has remained much better than in most urban areas of China, luring foreign investors and increasing tourism.
• Experts project that by 2010 the number of solar water heaters installed in China will equal the thermal equivalent of the electrical capacity of 40 large nuclear power plants. Globally, solar water heaters have the capacity to produce as much energy as more than 140 nukes.

As the purpose of this article was really to show what China was doing, and question why others were not, another interesting link is provided - Solar Water Heaters: The Workhorse of the Solar Industry that provides a history of Rizhao’s solar water industry:

Huang Ming, the founder of the solar water heater business in China, built a prototype so his aging mother would avoid having her rheumatism flare up by washing the dishes and floor with cold water. Word spread, and soon everyone in his neighborhood wanted a solar water heater. Huang listened and built what became the largest solar water heater business in China. The largest city in the region where Huang lives also got the message. Rizhao, a city of 3 million people, provided funding to Huang’s firm to bring down the price and increase its efficiency and simplicity. The municipality also informed the public by holding educational seminars and conducting advertising campaigns in the old Communist tradition of parades and mass gatherings. Their efforts paid off. Almost every household in Rizhao — located in the oil-rich Shandong province — now uses a solar water heater. The city has benefited as well. By relying on the sun, the citizens of Rizhao have cut carbon dioxide emissions by almost 53 thousand tons per year. Air quality has remained much better than in most urban areas of China, luring foreign investors and increasing tourism. The eco-friendliness of the city has also gained it national recognition resulting in leading Chinese universities establishing campuses here.

To be honest, what I don’t understand is why the government in China hasn’t just purchased these units for everyone in China. this country has proven time and time again, that its energy reserves are not just in limited supply, but that it is a heavily polluting industry. So.. why not use some of the foreign currency reserves, strap a solar panel to every home in China? If nothing else, it would require a significant amount of investment i silicon, would more than likely result in achieving large savings as a result of the scale, and would require hundreds of thousand of people to be trained and employed on a long term basis. Perhaps that is a bit of an over simplification, but its a start!