Environmental Impact

On average, one Sunfire Solar Water Heater prevents about 20,000 lb. of CO2 from entering the atmosphere per year and we have the hard data to prove it. Reports from our customer's electric utility companies show that one Sunfire Solar Water Heater saves 695 kWh of electricity over the course of 28 days. Over the course of a year, then, one Sunfire Solar Water Heater will save 9,057 kWh of electricity (365 days/28 days = 13.0357, 13.0357 * 695 kWh = 9057 kWh). Since 1kWh = 2.2 lb. CO2, 9057 kWh = 19,925 lb. CO2. To reiterate, just one Sunfire Solar Water Heater prevents about 20,000 lb. of CO2 from entering the atmosphere every year.

See the table for a listing of average daily total solar radiation in several U.S. Cities. The amount of sunlight striking the collector (or irradiance) is an important factor in how much energy the collector can produce. Also important is how much the energy output of the collector declines as the sunlight declines. Irradiance is measured in megajoules per square meter per day (or in Btu per square foot per day).

Average Daily Total Solar Radiation for U.S. Cities

City MJ/m²·day MJ/m²·day Btu/ft²·day Btu/ft²·day
23° Tilt 45° Tilt 23° Tilt 45° Tilt
Albuquerque, NM 23.58 23.42 2076 2062
Apalachicola, FL 18.13 17.50 1596 1541
Atlanta, GA 16.62 16.12 1463 1420
Baltimore, MD/ DC 14.79 14.75 1302 1299
Billings, MT 15.91 16.58 1401 1460
Birmingham, AL 16.25 15.76 1431 1388
Boise, ID 17.54 17.91 1545 1578
Boston, MA 11.41 11.62 1005 1023
Burlington, VT 12.87 13.07 1134 1151
Casper, WY 18.96 19.80 1669 1743
Charleston, SC 14.91 14.73 1313 1297
Charleston, WV 13.12 12.81 1155 1128
Charlotte, NC 16.96 16.67 1493 1468
Chicago, IL 14.74 14.80 1298 1302
Cincinnati, OH 13.50 13.20 1189 1164
Concord, NH 12.00 12.09 1057 1064
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 17.42 17.44 1533 1536
Denver, CO 20.24 20.89 1782 1839
Des Moines, IA 14.87 15.25 1310 1343
Detroit, MI 12.78 12.72 1125 1120
Fairbanks, AK 2.62 3.04 231 268
Fargo, ND 14.46 14.90 1273 1319
Greenville, SC 17.08 16.79 1503 1478
Hartford, CT 12.35 12.37 1087 1089
Honolulu, HI 19.24 17.67 1694 1556
Houston, TX 16.28 15.49 1434 1364
Indianapolis, IN 13.71 13.52 1208 1191
Jackson, MS 17.17 16.61 1512 1463
Las Vegas, NV 24.16 24.14 2127 2126
Little rock, AR 17.31 16.94 1524 1492
Los Angeles, CA 20.18 19.87 1777 1749
Louisville, KY 15.16 14.86 1335 1309
Memphis, TN 16.76 16.30 1476 1436
Miami, FL 17.70 16.81 1559 1480
Milwaukee, WI 13.46 13.70 1185 1206
Minneapolis, MN 13.73 14.08 1209 1240
New Orleans, LA 17.15 16.41 1510 1445
New York, NY/Newark, NJ 14.16 14.12 1247 1244
Norfolk, VA 16.57 16.30 1459 1435
Oklahoma City, OK 18.40 18.16 1620 1599
Omaha, NE 16.45 16.89 1449 1485
Philadelphia, PA 13.96 13.87 1229 1221
Phoenix, AZ 23.55 23.08 2073 2033
Portland, ME 11.97 12.24 1054 1078
Portland, OR 12.00 11.94 1057 1051
Providence, RI 13.00 13.10 1145 1153
Sacramento, CA 18.80 18.69 1655 1646
St. Louis, MO 16.10 16.02 1418 1411
Salt Lake City, UT 19.06 19.47 1679 1714
Seattle, WA 11.65 11.63 1026 1024
Shreveport, LA 17.39 16.79 1531 1478
Sioux Falls, SD 15.12 15.63 1331 1376
Syracuse, NY 11.40 11.29 1007 995
Topeka, KS 16.83 16.91 1482 1489
Wilmington, DE 14.49 14.44 1276 1271

The values listed in this table are based upon TMY data for each of the cities listed. The data for the tilted surface radiation was processed using the TRNSYS 13.1 radiation processor with the Hay and Davies tilted surface radiation model. The source for this table can be found here