IN WITH THE RENEWABLES Whether you are an off-grid operation or wish to save money on your energy bills, there are many solutions on the market that can make life easier and greener. Annie Hilton rounds up some of the innovative products on the market ideal for glamping sites.
SOLARISKIT solariskit.com What products and services do you supply to the glamping sector? SolarisKit supplies a unique, flat-packable solar hot water collector based on an attractive prismatic shape. Our solar collector can convert sunlight directly into hot water to reduce the consumption of electricity and gas for the glamping sector. What are the benefits and do they support off-grid operation? Our solar collectors can save glamping site owners money through energy savings, while also reducing their carbon footprint. Heating water is energy intensive and expensive, especially if using LPG gas in off-grid applications. Our visually attractive and easy to transport solar collectors provide a new way to turn sunlight into energy savings. We are currently developing a complete solar hot water system which does not require a pump and therefore no electricity. It
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is targeted at off-grid applications in the developing and emerging regions like Africa and Asia. SolarisKit is on a mission to provide affordable, clean energy everyone to everyone. How long will they last on site and do you offer any warranties? We offer a two-year warranty on our solar collector, but the collectors will last for years. The collectors have been tested to stringent European standards and are manufactured in the UK. SolarisKit is also an ISO 9001 quality endorsed company. How quick/easy are they to install? We like to call ourselves the IKEA solution to solar hot water, so we have worked hard to make sure our solar collector is as easy as possible to install. Our collector can now be assembled in around 20 minutes without requiring a single tool. We have created simple to
follow instructions and an accompanying step-by-step video to make it easy to assemble your solar collector. The collectors are compatible and safe to use with plastic ‘push-fit’ style piping (e.g. John Guest Speedfit) making it also quick and easy to install the necessary piping to the hot water storage tank. How much do they cost to run? Once installed, our solar collectors cost very little to run. A small pump (~60W) is typically installed to pump the water through our solar collector for storage in the hot water tank. When there isn’t enough sunshine to heat the water completely using our solar collectors, existing heating methods can still be used making sure your visitors always have hot water. By installing a solar hot water system, glamping site owners can save a lot in energy costs, while also looking after the environment. If you are interested to find out more, please contact the SolarisKit team!
