The Solar Report

The Solar Report shows the percentage which a household would save off their hot water bill if they had a solar water heater. It's also the amount of greenhouse gases abated (i.e. not created) by heating water.*

Report for week 30 October to 5 November 2009

 Region  Emissions/cost saving this week
Ballarat  87%
East Gippsland  96%
Glenelg  81%
Greater Bendigo  94%
Greater Shepparton  97%
Latrobe  85%
Melbourne  78%
Mildura 97%
South Gippsland 80%

According to Sustainability Victoria, if all Victorian homes had a solar water heater, this week Victoria would have cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 56,380 tonnes.

That's the equivalent of:

  • taking 680,000 cars off the road this week
  • 1.15 billion black balloons
  • 3.4% of Victoria's greenhouse gases from energy.

Report for the year to 5 November 2009

Region  Emissions/cost saving this year
Ballarat  73%
East Gippsland  77%
Glenelg  73%
Greater Bendigo  77%
Greater Shepparton  78%
Latrobe  71%
Melbourne  73%
Mildura  82%
South Gippsland  72%

According to Sustainability Victoria, if all Victorian homes had a solar water heater, so far this year Victoria would have cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 2,636,110 tonnes. That's the equivalent of:

  • taking 720,000 cars off the road for the period since January 1
  • 52.70 billion black balloons 
  • 3.1% of Victoria's greenhouse gases from energy.

More information

For more information on the solar report and how it works, see the FAQs (link at bottom of page).

* The solar savings percentage is based on computer simulations of the difference between the amount of energy used by a solar water heater compared to a conventional water heater for the same load used by an average water heater for an average family in Melbourne. The figures are then averaged for the week or month.

The potential savings of greenhouse gases if all Victorians used solar is calculated by taking the number of gas and electric water heaters in Victorian dwellings (from ABS 4602 2005) and multiplying it by the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a conventional water heater for Victoria. This gives the amount of greenhouse gases produced in an average week or month.

A seasonal factor is applied to account for differences in cold water temperature and amount of water used to give the total greenhouse gases. The amount of potential Greenhouse savings is calculated by multiplying this total greenhouse figure by the savings percentage for the week. Thus indicating the benefit if all gas water heaters were replaced with gas boosted solar water heaters and all electric water heaters replaced with electric boosted solar water heaters.

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