Israel's Number One Green Energy: Solar Water Heaters

Tel Aviv skyline from the fifth floor. Notice solar collectors facing south (to the right) and hot water water tanks / © 2010

One of Israel's most popular green energy technology is passive solar water heating. On each apartment building roof you see solar collectors and a water tank. Every apartment owner puts this small contraption and all the hot water for drinking, washing and bathing comes for free. At least eight months a year, there is no need to heat water with anything but the sun. Passive solar water heating has been used in Israel for decades. Solar collectors were popular since the 1950s, but the fuel crisis of 1973 lead to a law passed in 1967 which every new apartment must install a passive solar water heater. The only exceptions are high rise buildings where the roof is too small to accommodate all the residents. Today 95% of Israeli households use solar water heating. It accounts for 4% of the energy use overall. (see Wikipedia entry for solar water heaters: HERE)

To tourists coming to Israel, it seems odd to see solar collector on every building. Even on large commercial buildings there are passive water heating collectors. This simple technique of saving energy is second nature here in Israel. Just like other simple techniques of air drying cloths on a line, once people got used to this, there is no going back. While Israel has the geographic and climate conditions that enable year around effective solar energy use, so do many countries around the world. Could Israel teach the world to save energy used to heat water? Our use of this passive simple technique is useful and effective. Imagine half of the world using passive solar water heating. This could change the way we all consume energy forever.