Oct 30 2010
Apricus, a producer and distributor of solar thermal heating products and green energy solutions, has lately incorporated a solar thermal heating system over the Sacramento campus of the Californian State University. Apricus installed the heating system over the new state residence hall of the university in arrangement with JR Pierce Plumbing who performed the plumbing activities.
The new building constructed with an energy saving design will now display a 40 AP-30 model evacuated tube heat pipe collecting system with solar collectors to draw heat energy from the sun and change it into heat for heating the water. The new system is connected to a 1,000 gallon hot water tank with an open-loop system. The open-loop system will produce over and above 475 million Btu of heat energy every year. The installed solar thermal system with a vacuum tube feature will allow quicker generation and delivery of hot water all through the year including the non-summer period when the residence hall of the university will be crowded with people and fully utilized. The newly installed hot water system will meet around 30% of the hot water requirement of the new building. Currently the University is taking efforts to meet the LEED certification ratings by installing renewable energy systems to use 20% of its total energy usage from renewable energy systems.
Michael Speros, who works at the university as Director of Student Housing, said that the installation of solar heating system adds another energy efficient feature to the 209,000 square foot construction of the building. He further said that the energy efficient systems included in the university will offset over 60,000 lbs of carbon discharges every year and allow the university to contribute towards energy conservation.