Economic Efficiency of Solar and Rainwater Systems—A Case Study

Lucia Bednárová, Henrieta Pavolová, Zuzana Šimková and Tomáš Bakalár ()
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Lucia Bednárová: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovakia
Henrieta Pavolová: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovakia
Zuzana Šimková: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovakia
Tomáš Bakalár: Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovakia

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: The study deals with the analysis of data from a selected tourism facility and the implementation of a solar system and a rainwater system, which are an alternative to commonly used energy sources. The objective is to evaluate the potential savings from the use of the solar system for water heating and the rainwater system for purposes other than potable use with respect to local conditions of sunlight and rainwater variability. The facility holds 257 beds allocated in 124 rooms on 5 floors. The result of the contribution is an economic evaluation of the efficiency of investments in the proposed systems and the resulting recommendations in the field of energy flows in the selected facility. Appropriate formulas including the consumption of hot water, the amount of energy needed to heat water, the cost of the consumed energy necessary for heating and the average annual rainfall in the location, water consumption for clearly identified purposes of alternation with rainwater, the initial investment costs and operating costs of the solar and rainwater systems, were used for an economic evaluation of the investment into the solar and rainwater systems. Based on the economic evaluation, the economic efficiency of the proposed systems and the return on investment was calculated. The payback periods for the solar system used for hot water heating and the rainwater system used for non-potable purposes, accepting the local conditions, are 7 and 15 years, respectively.

Keywords: solar energy; rainwater; alternative energy sources; economic efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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