Solar Water Heater

I woke up this morning at 3 am. The August heat just wouldn’t let me go back to bed. Rather than waste time tossing and turning, I decided to finish making the connections for our solar hot water heater. I had spent countless hours the previous day gluing PVC and twisting iron pipes, but I only ended up flooding the kitchen and leaving the house without water. The few hours of sleep had given me some clarity and I attacked the problem from a different angle. By the time the sun started to peak its head over the horizon, all the connections were in place and the solar hot water heater was officially up and running.

We used to pay 60 or so dollars a month to heat water. That means we paid, the earth paid and those that live in coal producing countries paid the burden of the simple luxury that is hot water. That’s now a thing of the past. Rather than using up the earth’s resources, we have decided to hire the sun do what it does best: blast everything with is warm embrace.

The technology isn’t perfect; we will have to shower in the evenings (when the water is at its warmest), we will also have to deal with cloudy days and winter’s wrath. But, it’s a technology I can be proud of. It is another step towards having a sustainable and just existence. I am always blown away by the simple fact that if everyone on the planet had something as simple as hot water (the way that we normally produce it in the US) there wouldn’t be enough coal and oil to do anything else (including transportation, industry etc). Using the sun to heat water paints a very different picture, everyone should be able to do that…

Let us learn to use the things God has given us intelligently and justly. Thank God for the sun. Thank you Jamie Trahan, Jim De Mauro, Alex Lin, Mike Bair and all the others that have helped with the success of this project.