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Case Study - Car Wash
T
he car wash is located in Toronto, Canada, with only 6 months of reasonably
sunny conditions (same latitude as Massachusetts). The site uses solar thermal,
preheating its water to save a bundle of energy on its hot water bills. It's one
of so many examples of smart, practical use of the sun's energy to save big
bucks over the long term.
Solar energy is a perfect solution for pre-heating hot water used in car washes. Car washes experience their greatest demand during the sunny portion of the day. This is typically between 11am and 5pm when the maximum energy from the sun is available. By closely matching hot water demand with energy from the sun, energy and economic efficiencies can be obtained.
The Car Wash pre-heats its water using 40 unglazed solar collectors - each one 120" x 50". The unglazed solar panels are similar to those used to heat residential pools. Unglazed collectors are basically plastic mats with no cover and no insulated back. They offer higher efficiency in warm calm conditions. A racking system tilts the collectors to maximize the heat collected. The unglazed panels make it necessary to use a low operating pressure in the collector loop.
The savings will be substantial, and even though the car wash expects to reach a financial breakeven point in approximately 10 years (without use of government assistance), economic reasons are not the only motivation of the stakeholders.
Car washes using conventional boilers fired by natural gas, generate greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. By supplementing an existing water heating system with solar technology less natural gas is required and therefore the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere is reduced. The solar car wash will save an estimated 16,000 cubic meters of natural gas and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 tons each year at the Sunoco service center.
Currently, some 1,500 commercial hot water car washes in Canada are using more than 2 million giga-joules of energy per year, equivalent to the annual energy used to heat 25,000 new homes during the winter in Toronto. On average, it takes approximately 87 gallons of heated water to wash a single car. This represents the same amount of hot water used in one day by an average household.
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