Condor Solar has been advising and assisting guest houses in the Cape Town to 'go green' by recommending and installing renewable energy solutions that are not only great for the environment, but are also saving the owners money on their monthly electricity bills.
Condor Solar does an obligation free assessment and supplies a detailed recommendation of the steps needed to be taken.
This includes the replacement of down lighters and other lighting including security lights with energy efficient LED bulbs and tubes. Lighting can be anything from 5 to 10 percent of the total monthly electricity bill.
Recommendations are made around the usage of electric ovens and stoves instead of for example gas.
The water heating situation is then also evaluated and potential solutions recommended and installed. Water heating is generally 30 to 50 percent of the monthly electricity bill. Of this an average of between 70 and 90 percent can generally be saved.
Solar geyser water heating systems, either flat plate systems on north facing roofs or evacuated tube systems on east /west facing roofs are then installed.
The final step in the process is to manage or at least take away a portion of the remaining electricity bill by installing some form of the guest houses own electricity generation.
This is generally in the form of photovoltaic solar panels along with an inverter to convert the power created into usable energy for the houses' appliances.
Batteries are also generally installed to give the guests some form of power during periods of scheduled and unscheduled load shedding.
It is possible to reduce the monthly electricity bill to almost zero if there is enough north facing roof space to install enough panels to produce enough power to drive all of the house appliances and to store enough for use through the night.
This is however a fairly large capital investment which we can calculate in consultation with the owners to establish the financial viability of the investment.
It is however also possible to install just enough battery power along with an inverter to allow for the guests to have for example lights, DSTV, an Internet connection and a single plug for cell phone charging for those load shedding hours.
This investment is not nearly so large as to eliminate an entire monthly electricity bill, but will certainly help with business continuity by keeping guests happy.
Reception and thus the billing system can be on-line as well as the telephone system working during load shedding to ensure that your business can continue uninterrupted.
Feel free to contact Condor Solar to arrange an obligation free site assessment.
Get the latest updates in your email box automatically.
Your nickname:
Email address:
Subscribe