Low-income Housing Residents’ Challenges with Their Government Install Solar Water Heaters: A Case of South Africa

Abstract

This paper investigate the challenges faced by the occupants’ of low-income housing with their government installed solar water heaters in South Africa, Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. The paper primarily investigates the challenges faced by the housing occupants since the solar heaters were installed in their low income houses. The data used in this paper were derived from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was obtained through the survey method, while the secondary data was derived from the review of literature. The primary data for the study was collected through a structured questionnaire survey distributed to a sample of low-income households in a metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The household survey revealed that the low-income housing residents’ occupants’ faces challenges with regards to the leakage of the solar heaters and the noise from the heaters whenever the hot water taps are opened. The study gives an insightful view of the importance of using solar water heaters in energy conservation and lessening electricity financial constraints on the low-income households. The study adds to the knowledge on low income housing solar water heating in South Africa, with specific emphasis on the challenges faced by the occupants’. Further, findings from the study could be used for the development of sustainable structures in order to give access to energy and hot water to the poor and providing a better path to the improvement of life and empowerment through alternative energy usage in low-income households’ in South Africa.