[Greenbuilding] is it ever sensible to use PV to heat water?

[Reuben Deumling]

On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Steven Tjiang <steve at tjiang.org> wrote:

> Reuben
>
> You use the excess PV generation from the summer to heat the water in the
> winter.
>
No, you don't. The grid is not a battery, as much as folks like to think of
it that way.

The excess PV generated watts I (may) pump in during the summer are
consumed in seconds by someone else (CA air conditioner most likely). The
watts I (may) want to power the heat pump six months later come from coal
plants in Wyoming, (or wind turbines or dams on the Columbia).



>  It's not economical to oversize a solar thermal system.
>
I think most solar thermal systems are vastly oversized relative to the
conceivable/actual demand for domestic hot water.

>
>  But SF bay area is more sunny than NW.
>
Yes.
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