Heat for the Tubs of China
GANYAO, China -- A solar-power revolution is being staged on China's rooftops.
But instead of harnessing the sun to generate electricity, China has quickly emerged as the world leader in using solar power for a more mundane task -- providing hot water for showers and washing dishes in dwellings that often have no other source of heat the year round.
The low-frills, low-cost technology isn't suitable for heating rooms or houses but is fueling a boom in solar power in China's poor countryside as well as its modernizing urban centers. Already, China claims an estimated 30 million solar households, or nearly 60% of the solar capacity installed in the world, according to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C., environmental group.
In Ganyao, a village in eastern Zhejiang Province, bathing used to mean a dip in the local creek or a trip to a communal bathhouse, says 55-year-old Hu Xingying. But for $145 three years ago, Ms. Hu bolted a sleek contraption of glass tubes linked to a green water tank onto the tiled roof of her farmhouse and now enjoys hot showers inside. "We can afford to use it," she says.
Now, China's solar industry is turning its sights on the U.S., hoping that soaring energy costs and a new tax credit for solar-energy usage from the Bush administration will spur Americans to consider cheap solar power for their swimming pools, showers and dishwashers. As part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, U.S. consumers can receive a 30% tax credit, up to $2,000, on the cost of qualifying solar systems installed before the end of 2007.
Rooftop panels heat water for more than 30 million buildings in China, from a restaurant in the Shanghai suburb of Xijing (above) to a simple home in Ganyao (right).
Michael Humphreys, co-owner of Apricus Solar Co., based in the Chinese city of Nanjing, sees an "extremely big change" in U.S. demand. He shipped nearly four times as many containers of equipment to the U.S. last year than in 2004, and business may triple this year, he says.
Increasingly, the average Chinese household views a solar water heater as a standard appliance, right after a washing machine on the list of priorities. The units are relatively affordable because of cheap materials, low labor costs and intense competition among an array of Chinese solar companies.
Of course, solar can be a fickle heating source. A day of sunshine is needed to warm a day's water need, so clouds rule out the next day's hot shower. Thick air pollution in China's urban areas can lengthen the time it takes to warm water.
And there is nothing pretty about the way cheap solar collectors are fixed onto Chinese roofs. Big apartment complexes are topped with a mishmash of A-shaped devices, since each household has its own. Water lines dangle unceremoniously down the building's side and into apartments.
Heating water by sunshine -- a process known as solar thermal -- is a low-tech sister to the related method of using the sun to make electricity, called photovoltaic power generation. "It's a lot more sexy to produce electricity than hot water," says Keith Winston, owner of Earth Sun Energy Systems, Hyattsville, Md., which has imported thermal equipment from China for the past year. "But the reality is, solar thermal is far more cost-effective right now."
China's government has encouraged adoption of solar technology. Cities like Shanghai have written stricter energy-efficiency requirements into building codes, for example. At this month's National People's Congress, Premier Wen Jiabao cited solar as an alternative to fossil fuels as he pledged that the country would cut energy use by 20% as a percentage of gross domestic product over the next five years.
As it is, household heat is denied to many Chinese. In winter, the government provides heat only half the year and only in the northern half of China. It provides none in the south. And everywhere, arranging for hot water is the individual's responsibility.
The country's embrace of thermal solar technology stands in stark contrast to the country's poor environmental record overall. The country's own sudden appetite for fuel has driven global energy costs to records, making alternative power sources more palatable.
Solar panels, like these atop a Shanghai inn, have become so popular in China that the country claims nearly 60% of the solar capacity installed in the world.
China is home to hundreds of companies that increasingly dominate the manufacturing of the heart of the solar hot-water system: sunlight-absorbing evacuated thermal tubes. Resembling fat, black florescent lightbulbs, the tubes cost as little as $110-$125 a square meter (10.764 square feet) to make and install in China, a fraction of going prices elsewhere of $800 to $1,000, says Eric Martinot, a visiting Tsinghua University professor who prepared the Worldwatch report.
In the more technically complex photovoltaic solar-panel business, Chinese companies have also made inroads. Among the world's top 10 solar-cell producers is Suntech Power Holdings Co. of Wuxi, China, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The global giants in the photovoltaic business, like General Electric Co. and BP PLC, aren't active in solar-thermal equipment.
Apricus, a closely held Sino-Australian joint venture, is one of only two China-based companies that produce solar-thermal equipment eligible for the U.S. tax credits, according to the Florida-based Solar Rating & Certification Corp.
Li Wei, vice general manager of Beijing Sunda Solar Energy Technology Co., the other certified company, says the tax credit has helped U.S. sales, although sales to Europe remain higher.
Yet, the solar thermal industry's growth remains strongest in China. In the rugged east coast province of Zhejiang, the penetration of solar is hard to miss. Colorful lean-tos, the size of compact cars, sit atop most apartment buildings and farmhouses.
The trend reflects how a relatively poor country has found an economical route to higher living standards, such as daily showers. "Around Qiandao Lake about 95% of homes have one," says Hong Yongping, owner of Chunan Meidadianqi Co., an appliance retailer in the area.
In fact, free solar power may be worsening water wastage and pollution, already big environmental problems in China. As Ms. Hu notes, "We don't care much about how much water we use now."
At Ms. Hu's farmhouse in Zhejiang province, the glass-and-steel solar device set on her black tiled roof is fed by an orange tube that runs from the ground-level water main, through a duck corral and up the length of her front wall. But environmental benefits and aesthetic value aren't her chief concern. "There's no relationship," says Ms. Hu. "It's cheap and convenient."
中国太阳能热水器企业瞄准西方市场
太阳能革命正在中国千家万户的屋顶上逐步推进。
但在中国，太阳能的主要作用并不是发电，而是提供沐浴和洗碗用的热水。中国已经迅速发展成为这一领域的全球领先国家。
低成本的集热技术使太阳能利用迅速在中国的广大农村和城市地区普及开来。根据华盛顿环保机构Worldwatch Institute提供的数据，中国使用太阳能的家庭已有3,000万户，几乎是全球已安装太阳能利用设备的60%。
55岁的胡杏英住在浙江省东部的干窑镇。她说，以前这里的人们要么在镇旁的小河里泡泡，要么就只能去公共浴室洗澡。但在三年前，她家花了大约145美元安装了一台太阳能热水器，从瓦房屋顶的绿色水箱里接出来的几根圆润精巧的玻璃管里流淌著热水，现在每天都能在家洗澡了。“这个我们用得起，”她说。
眼下，中国的太阳能企业正将目光投向美国，希望太阳能的成本优势以及布什(George W. Bush)政府促进太阳能使用而提供的新的税收优惠政策能促使美国人重新审视这项技术，考虑游泳池、淋浴器和洗碗机的替代能源渠道。美国的《2005能源政策法案》(2005 Energy Policy Act)规定，如果在2007年年底之前安装合格的太阳能系统，美国消费者就能得到相当于系统成本30%的税收优惠，最高不超过2,000美元。
总部设在中国南京市的Apricus Solar Co.的共同拥有者麦克尔?汉弗莱斯(Michael Humphreys)就看到了美国市场需求出现了“极大转变”。去年，他发往美国的太阳能设备较上年激增近三倍，今年的业务可能会再涨两倍。
越来越多的中国人将太阳能热水器视作必备家用电器，必要性仅次于洗衣机。得益于低廉的材料价格和劳动力成本，以及中国生产厂家之间激烈的竞争，普通中国人家庭一般都买得起太阳能热水器。
当然，太阳是一个多变的采暖来源。加热供一户家庭使用一天的热水需要一个阳光普照的白天，所以多云地区就无法使用。中国城市地区严重的空气污染也会延长加热所需的时间。
再者，中国家庭在屋顶上安装便宜的太阳能收集装置的样子也实在不怎么美观。大型公寓楼群的顶部乱糟糟堆满了这些A状设备，每家一个；供水管晃晃荡荡地沿著墙面进入千家万户。
相对于太阳能发电（又称：光伏）技术来说，太阳能采暖（又称：光热）技术的难度并不高。用太阳能“发电可比加热冷水更有诱惑力，”美国马里兰州Earth Sun Energy Systems的所有人基斯?温斯顿(Keith Winston)说。该公司去年曾从中国进口太阳能加热设备，“但现实是，光热的成本-效率远远高出很多。”
中国政府一直鼓励推广太阳能技术。比如说，上海等许多城市都制定了更加严格的建筑节能规定。在今年3月召开的全国人大(National People's Congress)会议上，温家宝在提到未来5年中国将把能耗减少20%的时候就提到，太阳是化石燃料的替代之一。
中国对光热技术的热情与中国环保效果之差形成了鲜明对比。中国市场对能源的突发渴求已经导致全球能源成本不断刷新历史最高纪录，让替代能源变得更加诱人。
中国的数百家太阳能企业日益垄断了太阳能热水系统的生产核心：集热交换管。
清华大学访问教授埃里克?马蒂诺(Eric Martinot)说，这些管道的生产和安装成本在中国市场低至每平方米110-125美元，与其他地区通行的800-1,000美元成本相比简直微不足道。马蒂诺也参与了上文提到的Worldwatch报告。
在技术相对复杂的光伏领域，中国企业也取得了不少进展。中国无锡的尚德太阳能电力有限公司(Suntech Power Holdings Co.)就名列全球十大太阳能电池生产商之一。该公司在纽约证交所上市。而光伏发电领域的全球大型企业，如通用电气(General Electric Co.)和英国石油公司(BP PLC)等，在光热领域并不活跃。
根据佛罗里达Solar Rating & Certification Corp.的信息，经审查合格能够享受美国税收优惠的、以中国为基地的太阳能设备生产商只有两家，上文提到的Apricus就是其中之一。这是一家中国和澳大利亚合资建立的未上市公司。
北京市太阳能研究所有限公司(Sunda Solar Energy Technology Co.)是得到认证的另一家中国企业，该公司副总经理李炜表示，税收优惠促进了公司产品在美国的销售，但欧洲市场的销售额更高。
不过，光热产业在中国的发展仍然是最迅猛的，东部沿海省份浙江省的发展尤其不容忽视，大多数居民楼和农舍的房顶上都安装著五颜六色、微型轿车大小的倾斜式太阳能热水器。
这一趋势充分体现了中国这个仍然相对贫穷的国家是怎样找到了提高人民生活水平的经济有效的方式的。当地家用电器零售商春安美达电气公司(Chunan Meidadianqi Co.)的拥有者洪勇平说，千岛湖畔大约95%的人家都有一部太阳能热水器。
前文提到的胡杏英家里安装的是一台玻璃和钢材混合制成的太阳能设备。环保和审美根本不是她考虑的因素，“这些根本没关系，”她说，重要的是便宜和方便。
