Solar Water-Heating System will benefit low-income San Francisco residents, provide green jobs and help to reduce carbon emissions

In a statement this week, SunWater Solar, Inc. and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) announced the implementation of new solar thermal systems at two affordable housing buildings in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. The effort is part of the TNDC’s Green Retrofit Initiative, an effort aimed at making TNDC buildings more energy efficient.

According to the statement the pair of solar water systems were developed using 40 solar collectors for one and 24 collectors for the other. To fund the project’s components as well as the installation, $85,867 in California Solar Initiative-Thermal (CSI-Thermal) rebates were used.

Other parts of the initative to reduce energy and resource consumption included the installation of energy-efficient lighting and low-flow showerheads and toilets.

“The San Francisco MOH and Enterprise Community Partners structured the financing in such a way that these solar water-heating installations are a highly cost-effective means of reaching Green Retrofit Initiative goals,” said Don Falk, TNDC Executive Director. “The technology makes sense from both a financial and an environmental perspective.”

SunWater Solar, a solar thermal integrator that manages the design and installation of commercial solar thermal systems has extensive project management experience in domestic hot water heating, process heating and solar cooling.

The company, founded in 2007 and based in Richmond, California, was proud to apply their expertise in solar water heating technology to this project.

“Solar thermal systems can greatly reduce water-heating bills for large, low-income housing buildings,” said Justin Weil, President of SunWater Solar. “With CSI-Thermal rebates currently funding roughly 30% of system cost, it’s a sound business decision to invest now in the technology.”