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‘You basically have free hot water’: how Cyprus became a world leader in solar heating (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Cyprus has outstripped all other EU member states in embracing hot-water solar systems, with an estimated 93.5 % of households exploiting the alternative energy form for domestic needs.

The solar thermal systems not only collected solar energy as heat – usually generated through electricity and the burning of fossil fuels – they were extremely cost-effective and had helped spawn an entire industry, he explains.

“It’s been great for low-income families and then there’s the jobs: so many have been generated,” the MP says. “There are the local manufacturers who produce the parts and then all the people who are trained to install them. It’s big business.”

In his role as environment commissioner, Theopemptou pushed hard to make the solar systems obligatory on all newly constructed residential and commercial buildings – a move instituted by Israel back in the 1970s.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

depending on the outside temperature, there’s a limit to what the heat pump can do, which an internal electric heater inside the water tank takes over to reach usable shower temperature.

That is also true for solar heaters when there is no sun. and there are not many places that have climates where heat pumps cant operate these days.

Also air source heat pumps can have a COP of 3.5 so or higher. so even with a lower efficiency from the PV you might get ahead. You also get gains from the high COP on cloudy days where you might need resistance heating on the thermal one

I dont think you can claim any of them is better without doing the math.