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When Governor Schwarzenegger signed the landmark Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007, he launched the largest solar water heating program in our nation’s history. The new legislation calls for a 10-year program aimed at installing approximately 200,000 solar water heaters in homes and businesses throughout California. By creating this program, lawmakers hope to see a reduction of harmful emissions, increased energy efficiency and lower utility bills.

A recent study shows that families below the poverty line spend 19% of their income on utility bills. To alleviate this burden and ensure that energy conservation is widely accessible to California residents, the California Department of Community Services and Development and the Southern California Forum for Energy Efficiency, Environmental, and Human Services Providers (SCF) initiated a renewable energy pilot program. As part of the program, solar hot water heating systems have been installed in four of the 22 low-income, single

family homes across the state.

Funded by the State Petroleum Violation Escrow Account (PVEA), this program, in particular, will monitor each of the study homes’ energy and gas consumption to determine the efficiency of the solar hot water heating systems.

“With HOBOlink, we can view

the data anytime, anywhere we

have access to the Internet.”

― Arleen Novotney

Arleen Novotney, Executive Director of SCF, is leading the project.

“Our goal is to provide low-income homeowners with access to renewable energy solutions designed to decrease energy consumption and reduce energy bills,” explains Novotney. “For this program, we installed solar hot water systems in various climate zones across the state and will monitor the efficiency of the solar hot water heating systems.”

To monitor systems performance,

Solar Thermal Monitoring

Quick Facts

Project Description: Solar Thermal Monitoring

Customer: State of California

Monitoring Location: Southern California

System Components:   • HOBO® U30/GSM system

  • HOBOlink® data plan

  • Range of Smart Sensors (See diagram on reverse side)

Solar Thermal Monitoring

onsetcomp.com 1-800-LOGGERS

onset®

1-800-LOGGERS onsetcomp.com

Novotney chose web-based HOBO® U30 Remote Monitoring Systems manufactured by Massachusetts-based Onset Computer Corporation. The monitoring system consists of a GSM cellular-based data logging unit and sensors that monitor gas usage, cold and hot water supply temperature, solar collector water temperature, and hot water flow.

The HOBO U30 collects data at one minute intervals, 24/7 and the information is accessible on the internet where Novotney and her team can access the data from Onset’s HOBOlink™ website.

“With HOBOlink, we can view the data anytime, anywhere we have access to the Internet.” says Novotney. “The ability to view data remotely allows us to see how the hot water heating units are performing without having to go back into the field to manually collect the data.”

According to Novotney, many factors are being considered for this study. The evaluation of these systems will include a snapshot of the costs associated with the homeowners’ gas and electrical usage, as well as the energy costs following the installations. The energy savings will be reflected by the climate zone, the household size, and fuel type.

“Since no one in our state has ever monitored the natural gas usage associated with a solar water heating unit, we wanted to track the consumption of gas when the solar power was on versus when the solar power was turned off,” explains Novotney.

So far, the collected data indicates that the solar hot water heating systems are helping. During daylight hours

the system turns off and only turns back on at night.

“This is the kind of data we needed to see,” explains Novotney. “We wanted to determine whether or not the systems were performing the way we hoped they would. The data showed us that during the day there is no need for the system’s gas or the electric power to turn on, and this will ultimately save homeowners money.”

According to Novotney, the HOBO U30 systems will continue monitoring the current test homes for several months and then she and her team plan to change the location of the loggers to include additional test homes.

“We plan on using the HOBO U30 systems on each of the 22-test homes for the pilot study”, concludes Novotney. “We hope to have comparison data on all of the solar hot water hearing systems by next year.” About Onset Onset is the world’s leading supplier of data loggers. The company’s HOBO data logger and weather station products are used around the world in a broad range of monitoring applications, from verifying the performance of green buildings and renewable energy systems to agricultural and coastal research. Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Onset has sold more than one million data loggers since the company’s founding in 1981. Onset Computer Corporation http://www.onsetcomp.com (800) 564-4377 / (508) 759-9500 Fax: (508) 759-9100 sales@onsetcomp.com

Copyright © 2009 Onset Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Onset is a registered trademark of Onset Computer Corporation.

Solar Thermal Monitoring

Temp for gas heater operation

S-UCC-M006

Flowmeter, cold water supply

TC6-K

Cold water supply temperature

Dedicated solar storage outlet temperature

Hot water draw temperature

S-TMB-M006

S-TMB-M006

S-TMB-M006

ThermocoupleTransmitter

T-MAG-SCT-020 20Amp CT

T-MAG-SCT-020 20Amp CT

For grid-powered circulation pump

For electric WH

System Diagram