Energy Efficiency Standards submitted for review by the end of October
Statistics show that in 2009, the national solar water heater production reached 42 million square meters. According to Huo Zhichen, secretary general of the China Solar Thermal Industry Association, solar water heater production will exceed 54 million square meters this year, 60% of which will benefit from the push for home appliances to the countryside. According to report, in this year's new round of bidding process, 79 new successful bidders have been created. In addition to the 92 companies that won the bid in 2009, a total of 171 solar water heater companies have entered the state subsidies channel.
Although the solar water heater road to the countryside twists and turns, but the National Solar Energy Standardization Committee Secretary Jia Tieying still said that solar water heaters have a high input-output ratio of environmental efficiency, but also with independent intellectual property rights products, at the same time, with the new international energy subsidies policy In comparison, the current 13% government subsidies for solar water heaters are clearly low. He believes that solar water heaters should be included in energy-saving products to benefit people's projects.
The lack of energy efficiency standards is an important reason for the absence of subsidies for solar water heaters. According to Huo Zhichen, the “Energy Efficiency Limits and Energy Efficiency Ratings for Domestic Solar Hot Water Systems†was originally planned to be completed in June 2010 and fully implemented in 2011. After full product testing, data collection, and expert demonstration procedures, the final expert review meeting will be held in Beijing on August 4th, and the content of the manuscript will be finalized. At the end of October, it will be submitted to the relevant national authorities. It is understood that solar energy water heater energy efficiency will be divided into 5 levels, 5 is the entry level, 1 and 2 are high energy efficiency products. “The majority of consumers lack experience and lack of judgment. They are often swayed by the various concepts of manufacturers and merchants.†Wang Huiyu, chairman of Jiangsu Rilit Solar, pointed out that in the case of asymmetric information, consumers The choice is always to see the flowers in the fog. The introduction of energy efficiency standards and the implementation of the energy efficiency labeling system will allow consumers to set aside complicated technical terminology and parameters and clarify their purchasing standards.
According to reports, a high-efficiency solar water heater must be heat-absorbing, heat-conducting, heat-retaining, and system-matching superior to meet consumer demand. Unilateral emphasis on heat absorption or unilateral emphasis on heat preservation and heat conduction are incomplete. There are many low-efficiency products on the market today, because companies have only focused on unilateral heat preservation or endothermic technology, and even spent too much effort on remodeling their appearance. To this end, Jiangsu Rilita Solar proposed a high energy efficiency product strategy, and launched the world's first 1:1:1 vacuum heat preservation solar water heater new product - Weika, which will focus competition on the first level of energy efficiency. According to reports, vacuum insulation technology is the use of multiple layers of insulation material in the periphery of the tank for composite insulation, some of the insulation layer is wrapped with heat-resistant radiation film to form a bag-like seal, and then the heat-resistant radiation film bag is evacuated to block The air heat conduction path also protects the heat-insulating material from moisture, which greatly improves its thermal insulation performance. This technology can also reduce the thickness of the insulation layer, saving insulation materials.
In the general situation of energy saving and emission reduction, while low-carbon economy has become a global focus, energy-efficient products are increasingly favored by consumers. Earlier, Huayang, Tianfeng, Best and other brands have also participated in the market competition for energy-efficient solar energy. However, according to the reporter, the price of high-efficiency products is generally 10%-15% higher than that of ordinary products. Huo Zhichen stated that with the continuous popularization of high-efficiency products, its price will gradually decrease.
Fluoride-free environmental protection is the development direction
Zhang Xiaoli, chief engineer of the National Solar Water Heater Quality Supervision and Inspection (Wuhan) Center, said in an interview that solar energy belongs to clean energy and there is no consumption of electrical energy. Even products with energy efficiency level 5 are energy-saving products.
However, most people do not understand that this clean energy product contains banned materials such as Freon. It is understood that polyurethane rigid foam plastic is a polymer composite material with superior performance. It is currently recognized as the best insulation material for solar water heaters and is therefore widely used. However, this material contains Freon (CFC-11). Solar water heater industry will face the severe situation of the overall replacement of insulation materials.
Luo Zhentao, director of the Solar Energy Heat Professional Committee of the China Rural Energy Industry Association, said that the substitution of CFC-11 is not one-step. According to regulations, solar water heaters are allowed to use the transition material dichlorofluoroethane (HCFC-141B) before 2020. At present, China does not have completely non-fluorinated alternative products with independent intellectual property rights. Therefore, if it is completely replaced, it can only use imported products.
However, Wang Huiyu said that although most of the alternative materials used by enterprises still contain fluorine, the fluorine content is very low, and the fluoride in production can be reduced by 80%. Therefore, the impact on the environment is also greatly reduced.
It is understood that at the beginning of 2009, solar energy companies in Lianyungang received World Bank awards because the city's solar water heater companies have all used HCFC-141B as a foam insulation material for their tanks. Enterprises will add 15 million yuan each year for this purpose. However, 60,000 tons of fluoride emissions will be reduced each year.
Luo Zhentao said that replacement will certainly cause an increase in costs, but it will not have a great impact on terminal prices.
expert's point
Industry shuffling accelerates
Although the energy efficiency standards of solar water heaters are ready to come out, energy efficiency will become an indispensable threshold for the industry. However, there are still people in the industry who pointed out that energy efficiency standards are difficult to understand for consumers, they are difficult to avoid, and the relevant departments are difficult to monitor.
According to a person in charge of a solar energy company, based on the understanding of energy efficiency labeling for traditional home appliances, consumers generally believe that the energy efficiency labeling mainly indicates power consumption. If solar water heaters use energy efficiency signs, it may cause consumers to misunderstand. Therefore, in addition to the clear description of the label itself, the science work must also be conducted in advance.
In addition, China's energy efficiency labeling system adopts a self-declaration + filing system for the enterprise, and the implementation mode of law enforcement supervision by the government. The use of energy efficiency labels for refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. has existed for several years. However, even in those industries where these brands are highly concentrated, the phenomenon of virtual signs still occurs frequently. The solar water heater industry is a mixed bag with thousands of small and large brands. The industry has low self-discipline and is mostly sold in specialty stores. Therefore, it is more difficult to regulate.
Experts believe that to promote energy efficiency standards and logos, the industry must first be cleaned up. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the industry standards, to ensure that there are laws and regulations available for finished product inspection standards and quality standards, raw material component inspection standards and quality standards, and packaging protection standards.
Lianyungang City Solar Energy Industry Association Secretary-General Chen Shuangxi pointed out that due to the use of new environmentally-friendly non-fluorinated foam insulation materials to bring higher costs, so initially in the whole industry, especially small and medium-sized enterprises to promote new process materials have a certain degree of difficulty. For this reason, the association has done a lot of work. Specific to the country, no fluorination is a long way to go. However, experts all believe that non-fluorine environmental protection will be the development direction of the solar water heater industry, and the non-fluorinated process will certainly be the process of reshuffling the solar energy industry in China.
According to Jia Tieying, secretary general of the National Solar Energy Standardization Committee, the revision of the “Technical Conditions for Domestic Solar Hot Water Systems†developed eight years ago has already started. The new national standard will not only impose higher requirements on core technical indicators such as heat loss and heat gain, but will also add new technical requirements, such as the requirements on the material and thickness of the bladder. In 2009, there were 10 projects for solar water heaters. The installation standards for solar hot water systems were also submitted to relevant authorities at the beginning of the year. The improvement of standards will promote the improvement of product quality and industrial upgrading.
Huo Zhichen pointed out that the work of solar energy to the countryside has not only effectively expanded the scale of the industry, but also effectively promoted the upgrading of the industry, and the degree of market brand concentration has also increased significantly. The next step in China’s solar energy industry is to increase energy efficiency standards and expand the use of solar thermal energy. It takes 3-5 years to develop 5 to 10 large-scale backbone enterprises with independent intellectual property rights and international competitiveness, with a market share of 50. More than %, and cultivate a number of brand-name companies and brand-name products, to promote the industry in a more efficient and environmentally friendly to a new level.