Assessment of Solar Water Heating In Cyprus: Utility, Development and Policy

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess solar water heaters’ utility, development and policy in Cyprus. The study reviews the relevance of solar water heaters in Cyprus from users’ perspective. Cyprus has the highest per capital solar water heater system ratio in the world with no solar water heating systems policy in place currently. Data were collected from some local manufacturer/sellers of the system and residents of one thousand (1,000) housing units that utilize solar water heating systems interviewed on the system’s usefulness and viability in the long and short term. SPSS is deployed in analyzing the data collected and a policy that will further enhance the development of solar water heaters is proposed. In Cyprus, solar water heater are of the thermo-syphon type and consist of two flat-plate solar collectors having an absorber area between 160 X 80 cm for locally manufactured products and 190 x 90 cm for imported ones. It is estimated that the number of systems installed in Cyprus exceeds 80,000 units for residential buildings. From the results, eight out of every ten houses has solar water heaters installed and about 50% of houses without solar water heating systems have plans of installing the system soon. Most of the hot water produced by the system are used for bathing and it is noteworthy to mention that over 80% of the respondents interviewed agrees that the system is worth investing in. A comprehensive report of all the findings from this study is properly presented in the paper.