ABSTRACT
Electrical energy consumption in residential buildings increases rapidly in Saudi Arabia. Nearly 11% of residential energy consumed is due to the use of electricity for water heating. The purpose of this work is to investigate the performance of using the evacuated tube solar water heating system in residential buildings. Six locations in different climatic regions over Saudi Arabia have been selected for the investigation using measured data of weather and solar radiation. The technical performance and the economic feasibility of using solar water heating system in the selected sites have been investigated using RET Screen program through determining the delivered heat, solar fraction, the reduction in CO2 emissions, the savings in energy and cost, payback time, net present value and the benefit to cost ratio. The study with current conditions showed that there is a promising feasibility of using evacuated tube solar water heating system with heat pipe in Saudi Arabia, especially resulting from the encouraging payback time of less than 4 years for all investigated locations.
