Solar water heater on roof of Environmental House at Alfred University.

Undergradate Research

Demonstration and Monitoring of Solar Water Heating Technology

Investigators: Brian Bednarski and Kim Gesegnet

In April, 2002, the Environmental House on the Alfred University campus was made a little more environmentally-friendly with the installation of a solar hot water heater. With support from the Center for Environmental and Energy Research and the Division of Environmental Studies, two mechanical engineering students, Brian Bednarski and Kim Gesegnet, designed the system with commercially available parts and have wired it to a computer to monitor its performance.

The solar system does not replace the existing natural gas-fired heaters, but serves to preheat the water before it goes into the conventional heaters. On sunny days, the solar system can heat all of the water that is needed. The end result is that less natural gas is used for domestic hot water heating. This saves the university money and is better for the environment.

We are working to broadcast the performance of the system in real time on this website.

CEER is funded in large part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

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