Solar hot water (SHW) is a huge market globally, but an almost untapped market in the U.S., as recently reported by GTM’s Herman Trabish.

It’s a topic we’ve covered in depth of late at Greentech Media. Here’s a roundup of our recent coverage:

According to Sunnovations CEO Matt Carlson, there are approximately 100 million residential water heating systems in the U.S., and just under half use electricity, fuel oil or propane. “I’m looking at a market of 50-million-plus homes that don’t use natural gas to heat their water,” he said. “That’s a pretty sizeable market, and that’s where the opportunity is.”  Here’s a profile of Sunnovations.

The growth potential for solar thermal is huge. But governments will have to create stable, long-term policy frameworks for solar thermal that include economic incentives and remove barriers. They will also need to set quality-control standards and fund and support research, development and demonstration (RD&D) efforts (especially in the area of small scale heat storage) that will bring commercial production to much higher levels within a decade.

via GTM’s Solar Hot Water Collection : Greentech Media.