The following article was written by Ryan Rutkowski and published in Asian Times Online, October 29th 2009. Ryan (’07) was a Tower Center Fellow, having received the Miller Undergraduate Fellowship, and is currently a master’s student studying international economics at Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing University Center for Chinese-American Studies.
China Leads Solar Home Revolution
Gazing across the Chinese urban cityscape, one quickly notices many strange tubular devices dotting the rooftops of many residential buildings. These are solar water heaters.
Solar water heaters rank among the world’s fastest-growing applications of solar thermal technology. According to the WorldWatch institute, the solar thermal heating sector expanded worldwide in 2007 at its highest rate since 1995, up 19 gigawatts of thermal equivalent (GWth) to 147 GWth total capacity. Solar thermal energy harnessed for domestic water heating is the primary application of this technology, accounting for 86% of all installations in 2009.
China is the world’s largest market for solar water heating (SWH). Since the 1990s, China has blossomed with an increase in annual production to 114.1 million square meters in 2007 from 0.5 million square meters in 1991, accounting for two thirds of global output. According to “The China Greentech Report 2009”, the country has the world’s largest installed base of solar water heaters, at over 125 million square meters, with one in 10 families such devices.
Continue reading this article at Asian Time Online