SAHWIA is the industry association representing companies engaged in manufacturing, marketing, installation and sales of solar air heating systems around the world.  Its mandate is to promote public awareness of the benefits, applications, and necessity of solar air heating, as well as to help develop the government policies and programs required to support and accelerate the widespread use of solar air heating throughout the world.

SAHWIA also administers the Solar-A-Mark, which is a quality assurance certification designed to guarantee high quality systems in the marketplace. It ensures that solar air collectors are tested to the relevant test standard, such as CSA F378.2 and the upcoming EN 12975-2 / ISO 9806

Solar air heating systems produce one of the fastest ROI’s of any solar technology and have been widely used around the world for over 25-years (such as North America where fresh air ventilation is the norm).  As construction technologies improved and buildings became more airtight, European Norm #13779 was established to mandate the required fresh air ventilation rate for buildings.  Solar air pre-heating or space heating will provide a significant contribution in terms of reducing the cost of heating this air and the use of fossil fuels.

Ms Tabarot is a lawyer by training with a background in the building construction industry.   While working in the building industry, she recognized firsthand the contribution that solar air heating could deliver in order to achieve the EU’s 2020 renewable energy usage goal.

Speaking on the importance of SAWHIA’s mandate, John Hollick, Chairman of the Board, said: “Heating of buildings is one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions in the commercial, industrial and government building sectors. Europe will be unable to meet its 20% Renewable Energy Target by 2020 with the current policy strategies because there is no cost effective mechanism in place to target space and process heating. Solar air heating has a vital role to play in the renewable energy mix, and it represents an option that is significantly more cost-effective than other on-site renewable energy systems, as confirmed by clients such as Auchan, Ford, Jaguar, Bombardier as well as hundreds of municipalities.”

Press Contact: Cecile Tabarot
For more information visit the Solar Air Heating World Industries Association (SAHWIA)

2010 was a good year for the solar thermal industry in Canada. The total newly installed collector area (brown line) grew by 54 %, from 129,418 to 199,491 m2. Air collector sales (red line) doubled and – for the first – overtook the solar swimming pool market (blue line), which is more or less stagnating. With 150 %, the segment of glazed solar water collectors (pink line) experienced the highest growth, although the 20,000 m2 sold in 2010 make it still a low-level market.
Source: NRCan

This time, the annual Survey of Active Solar Thermal Collectors, Industry and Markets in Canada 2010 published by National Resources Canada (NRCan) can show off some superlatives: Total collector sales, including domestic and export, amounted to 252,146 m2, finally exceeding 200,000 m2 . The same picture with the collector area in operation: it has now surpassed 1 million. According to the NRCan statistics, there were 1,033,864 m² of collector area in operation in the country by the end of 2010.

The survey included the filled-in questionnaires from 29 companies in Canada. “However, only 21 companies responded in both years, with eight companies dropping out, and eight new ones added,” the study’s author Dr Reda Djebbar from Natural Resources Canada names a weak point in the study’s conclusions, which makes comparisons between two different years somewhat difficult.

And, what about the forecast for 2011? A majority of the companies still anticipate growing sales in the near future. “However, there is a strong polarisation in the industry, with larger companies being pessimistic, and smaller companies showing optimism,” Djebbar analyses in the study. The author sees a pessimistic mood on the rise in the Canadian solar thermal industry: “The number of companies expecting either no growth or a decline has increased from 0% in 2007 to 20% in 2008, 26% in 2009 and then to 36% in 2010”. The planned end of the ecoEnergy for Renewable Heat programme in March 2011 contributes to the pessimistic forecast of some industry players. The solar pool heating market, on the other hand, has been unaffected by the lack of subsidies.

Another event which has recently weakened the solar thermal market: the elections in the province of Ontario in October 2011. Re-elected Ontario Prime Minister Dalton McGuinty had announced during his campaign that the feed-in tariff for solar electricity would continue under the Green Energy Act, which means that Ontario’s solar thermal industry will keep staying in the shadow of photovoltaics. This has a strong influence on the market, because Ontario has been the market leader among the provinces, reporting 55 % of all sales (by revenue) in 2010.

Still, Canada has established itself as the world leader in solar air heating usage. The largest air collector manufacturer in the country, Conserval Engineering, pointed out earlier this year, “that it is a big mistake in the European legislation not to consider solar air heating systems as a renewable heating technology”. Apparently, the European Renewable Energy Directive (RED) 2009/28/EC actually excludes solar air heating units from the list of approved solar technologies. “The error came to light when the UK government recently introduced its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which specifically excluded solar air heating,” Conserval explained in a press release in July 2011. Greg Barker, Great Britain´s Minister of State from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, is quoted in the press release, saying: “The RHI will only include technologies which the European Commission considers to be renewable under the RED.”

The new test standard currently has two sections:

• F378.1, Glazed and unglazed liquid heating solar collectors
• F378.2, Air heating solar collectors

The Air Standard applies to both glazed and unglazed air heating solar collectors used for converting solar radiation into thermal energy by heating air flowing through the collector. Typical applications for the air heating solar collectors covered by this Standard include their use in systems for direct space heating, combustion air heating, crop drying, and ventilation air pre-heating.

This Standard is intended to apply to solar collectors that use air as a heat transfer medium including the following types of solar collectors:

1. glazed closed-loop recirculated air heating solar collectors;
2. unglazed closed-loop recirculated air heating solar collectors;
3. glazed open-loop ambient air heating solar collectors; and
4. unglazed open-loop ambient air heating solar collectors.

The operations of buildings – heating, powering and cooling them – account for the largest source of GHG emissions, which helps to explain the rationale for the European Union’s 20% Renewable Energy Target.
In an inexplicable turn of events, Europe’s Renewable Energy Directive has actively excluded solar air heating from its list of approved solar technologies, despite the fact that it addresses the largest usage of building energy in many countries, which is indoor space and process heating.

The exclusion is even more perplexing given that solar air heating technologies produce the fastest ROI of any solar technology and have been widely used in countries and applications around the world, including a very strong concentration in Canada and the USA, for the past 20 years for clients such as Sainsbury, Auchan, Wal-Mart, Ford, Jaguar/Land Rover, Toyota, and the United States Military.

The error came to light when the UK government recently introduced its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which specifically excluded solar air heating. When the omission was brought to the attention of Greg Barker, Minister of State for Green Energy including Heat and RHI, his department responded with: “The primary objective of the RHI is to encourage the installation of renewable heating equipment and generation of renewable heat in order to meet the UK’s share of the EU 2020 renewable energy target. Therefore, the RHI will only include technologies which the European Commission considers to be renewable under the RED.”

The implication is that the UK and the rest of Europe will be unable to meet their 20% Renewable Energy Target by 2020 because they have no mechanism in place now to target space heating in the commercial, industrial and agricultural sectors.

As well, solar electric (PV) and solar water heating systems are considerably more expensive and produce less energy in comparison to solar air heating systems, so the decision to exclude a solar energy technology that is significantly more cost-effective for end user clients is difficult to understand, especially in an era of tight budgets and fiscal restraint.

It also contradicts the stated objectives of the UK’s RHI: “We need to work hard to remove the barriers holding back take-up…This support can help drive take-up of renewables now, stimulate the renewables industry, encourage further innovation and ultimately bring down the cost of renewable heating.”

Unfortunately the RHI will do the opposite. “Viable solar air heating systems are being excluded in lieu of more expensive water base heating systems just because they are on the “list”. As well as stifling innovation and preventing the widespread uptake in solar heating, this decision will ensure that the UK will be unable to meet their stated renewable energy targets because they are relying on expensive technologies that don’t address one of the largest usages of energy” states Hollick.

About Solar Air Heating World Industries Association: SAHWIA is the industry association representing the companies engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, installation and sales of solar air heating technologies across Europe and in North America.  Its mandate is to promote public awareness on the benefits, applications, and necessity of solar air heating, as well as to help develop the government policies and programs required to support and accelerate the widespread use of solar air heating throughout the world.  For more information, visit www.SAHWIA.org

At the company’s 40,000-square-foot research and development facility at the Mirabel Airport, for example, Bombardier’s plant engineering group authorized the recent installation of a Lubi™, a wall-mounted solar air heater, supplied by Enerconcept Technologies of Quebec, that is amidst a two-year payback for that application. The Lubi supplements the existing natural gas-fired make-up air unit by preheating wintertime outdoor air for the 52-foot-tall, hangar style building as required by ASHRAE Standard 62-mandated commercial building requirements.

“In 2008 we analyzed all types of equipment with a goal of reducing our electric and natural gas consumption,” said Serge Dumont, P.Eng., plant engineering and tooling manager, commercial aircraft div.–Bombardier.  “We decided only projects with a two-year payback or less would give us the most effective return on investment,”

The 145-foot-wide x 12-foot-high solar collector aesthetically simulates architectural windows and covers about 25-percent of the 7,600-square-foot masonry wall. It is delivering an annual 16-ton reduction of CO2 emissions and a $5,000 (CAD) natural gas savings. Over the course of its 20-year (minimum) lifecycle, the natural gas savings will undoubtedly rise well past $100,000 when considering inevitable fossil fuel price escalations. Lifecycle CO2   reductions is estimated at 320 tons.

“This innovative technology will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions by the plant,” the automaker said in a statement. TMMF is one of five plants designated by Toyota worldwide to develop pioneering initiatives towards sustainable manufacturing.

At 12m high by 33m long, spanning an area of 400m2, the SolarWall system is incorporated into the south wall of the press shop. When sunlight strikes the wall, the panels absorb heat, allowing warm air to heat the building’s interior which displaces the conventional heating load.

The SolarWall will raise the temperature of the air entering the building by up to 9°C during the coldest months of the year. TMMF estimates that the installation will result in annual energy savings of up to 25% over conventional heating methods with CO2 emissions reduced by about 20 tonnes a year.

The SolarWall technology uses solar radiation to deliver naturally warmed fresh air into buildings and has the highest known efficiency of any active solar technology in the world, generating up to 500 Watts of thermal energy per square metre of collector.

Andrew Brewster leads the Renewables Design Team at CA Group, he explained: “We have seen a significant uptake in solar air heating mainly because of the very tangible results which the technology delivers. For example, CA Group’s successful installation of SolarWall® at the Jaguar Land Rover technical training academy, in Leamington Spa, will result in savings of more than 80,000kWh in energy per year, which equates to 19 tons of CO2. The figures speak for themselves.”

As a direct result of the work undertaken by CA Group, SolarWall® is now recognised on the iSBEM calculator.

The 4,500m2 installation at the Castle Donnington distribution centre, being delivered for First Industrial development, will result in a 30% saving in heating requirement for the warehouse. The main contractor for the development is Winvic Construction.