Free Hot Water Solar Blog

Every year, Free Hot Water provides our customers and consumers with links to the three main IRS tax forms used to apply for the 30% solar investment tax credit. The three main 2011 IRS solar investment tax forms are below, as well as some basic tax guidance for consumers and businesses who have installed solar PV and solar water heating systems in 2011. IRS Tax Forms for Solar and Energy Efficiency Tax Credits Here is the 2011 IRS Form 5695 for residential systems. Submit it with your 2011...

We’ve written about Eneref Institute’s solar how water advocacy and information initiatives before. Recently, the organization announced that it is moving into the second phase of its “Solar Thermal Advantage” initiative, which is designed to promote the benefits of solar water heating and solar cooling to the trade media. The initiative will specifically focus on promoting solar thermal heating and cooling case studies. Free Hot Water launched a similar company initiative last month for our...

The lack of competition for solar water heating services in California is startling. Despite the rich solar thermal rebates that are available in California—and other states—there are few installers who can legally use them and collect the rebates. In fact, according to the California Solar Initiative (CSI), there only 374 contractors in the entire state that can install solar thermal heating and cooling solutions and able to receive a CSI Thermal rebate. 374! Consequently, of the millions of...

Question: When bidding on a commercial solar water heating project such as an apartment building, hotel, or hospital, how do you accurately measure the current solar hot water usage so that you can design the most optimal solar thermal system? Free Hot Water’s New V15 Flow Meter for More Accurate Hot Water Usage Measurements Answer: Either you estimate the building’s usage based on number of factors, such as the number of residents, or … you can now utilize Free Hot Water’s new V15 Ultrasonic...

Free Hot Water wants to promote our installers and distributors as much as possible. The busier you are installing solar thermal on apartment buildings, nursing homes, hotels, and homes, the better for all of us. If you’re an installer and have just finished a solar thermal job using Free Hot Water materials send us some photos of your crew on the job, as well as photos of the complete installation. Also, please include some details about the solar thermal job, including: Name of your solar...

As of right now, you can be reading this blog post and all information on Free Hot Water’s website in just about any language. No, we don’t have a separate website for every language in the world. Instead, Free Hot Water has installed Google Translate. Now, whether your native language is Spanish, Chinese, Italian, German, or many other languages, you can read Free Hot Water blog posts, product descriptions, and learn about solar thermal design and engineering services with a quick click of a...

Photo: Flickr/DavidPaulOhmer They did it last year, and they’re doing it again: The organizers of Intersolar North America are offering free registration to visitors until April 12. For those not familiar with Intersolar, it’s perhaps the second most prestigious international solar conference in the U.S. Solar Power International gets top prestige honors for U.S. solar conferences, but unlike Solar Power International, Intersolar is very predictable. It stays in one place and time. That is,...

If you’ve ever wanted to see the potential of solar thermal energy, watch this video below. Or better yet, go to Okotoks, Alberta, and see The Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC), a unique solar water heating AND solar space heating housing development in Canada. According to the DLSC website, this solar development of 52 homes is the first of its kind in North America. What’s so solar “gee-whiz’ about the development is that every home is heated by a huge central solar heating system that...

Boulder's Recreation Center - Powered by Solar Hot Water Boulder, Colorado may have four seasons, including a full winter, but that hasn’t stopped this city of 100,000 from embracing solar energy in a big way—including solar hot water. Home of the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), it’s not surprising that Boulder citizens would be very open to solar, but openness doesn’t install solar. Incentives and competition do. Boulder’s incentives for solar PV...

Free Hot Water is growing and we’re looking for qualified motivated solar pros to grow with us. With our new solar thermal financing partnership, we’re looking for several new team members to support our expansion. If interested in any of the solar thermal job opportunities below, please send your resume and cover letter to paul@freehotwater.com. TECHNICAL SUPPORT MANAGER Location: San Jose, CA We are currently seeking a qualified Technical Support Manager who will lend technical support to...

It’s not much, but SEIA and its partner, GTM Research, have included some very general solar water heating market information in its 3 rd quarter executive summary. Free Hot Water has talked to GTM researchers before about the lack of solar water heating data in their reports. They explain that there are two problems: First, not enough solar installers are willing or able to give them enough data to create a report. So, if you’re a solar water heating installer or financier or manufacturer who’…

We love to give solar thermal marketing advice at Free Hot Water. We’re a manufacturer and a distributor of solar hot water equipment, so our job isn’t to sell solar thermal jobs, but to support our installers with engineering, equipment, and marketing. So, your success is our success, and right now, we’re anxious to see solar thermal grow as fast as solar PV has grown. So here are 3 tips that you can use to sell some solar thermal commercial jobs. 1) Go to events where your customers are. An

There is no dispute that solar PV has grown faster than solar thermal in the United States. Why? I think there are three basic reasons. 1) More and better financing for PV than solar thermal Banks and venture capitalists have loved solar PV for quite some time, and the reason is that solar PV projects are profitable with solar power purchase agreements (PPAs). Solar PPA’s for solar PV are a win-win. They provide low-upfront costs to the customer while also reducing energy costs. At the same...

We hate to be the bearer of solar bad news…. So, first we’ll be the bearer of solar hot water good news! In the great state of Idaho, the Questar gas utility has just launched a new residential and multifamily incentives for installing solar water heating systems. Customers of Questar who have a current gas backup water heating system will receive a maximum $750 rebate. Unlike many solar water heating rebates, the Questar rebate can also be applied to solar pool heating. On top of that,...

Dear Free Hot Water Dealers and Distributors and blog readers, It’s not too late! That is, it’s not too late to close commercial contracts that can qualify for the 1603 Treasury Grant Program (TGP) that is set to expire at the end of 2011, just 6 weeks away. In an effort to facilitate more solar thermal installations before the TGP ends, we’ve discounted a range of pre-engineered, pre-packaged OG-100 commercial solar thermal systems that can qualify for the TGP for commercial applications....