What’s the best country in the world for taking a hot shower?
Welcome to Barbados, the climate capital of the Caribbean
In the middle of the Atlantic, just before raging ocean waters meet the tropical blues of the Caribbean Sea, lies the island of Barbados. Created by the collision of plates and accumulation of coral, this densely populated island country boasts beautiful white sand beaches, Bajan cuisine, and of course, its best-known national hero: Rihanna.
But RiRi isn’t the only queen hailing from Barbados. If you’re coming to this Substack from a sustainability or development lens, you might have heard of another powerhouse Barbadian woman: Mia Mottley.
Sworn in as the country’s first female prime minister in 2018, Mottley has since made incredible strides for both climate adaptation and mitigation. She’s been making waves on the international stage, most notably at COPs, with a principled and passionate call for the Global North to step up to the plate and do its part to help developing countries usher in the era of energy transition. She is known for addressing, head-on, the moral and historical duty that developed nations have to financially, and politically, facilitate the energy transition. In 2022, she took the stage in Sharm El-Sheikh with this mic dropper.
This world looks, still, too much like when it was part of an imperialistic empire. The global north borrows with interest rates between 1 to 4%. The global south, around 14%. And then we wonder why the just energy partnerships are not working.
Similarly, we ask ourselves, if countries that want to finance their way to net zero and want to do the right thing can’t get the critical supplies, will they not have to rely again on natural gasses? This is the reality. And we have come here to ask that we open our minds to different possibilities.
Mottley speaks a critical truth: centuries of colonialism, exploitation, and enslavement have left many developing countries resource-poor on the cusp of this critical moment of investment. As long as borrowing costs remain high and historical colonial powers (USA, U.K., France — you know the ones) drag their feet in delivering real, needle-moving reparations through the Loss and Damage fund, a sustainable and just energy transition remains out of reach.
That’s why she spearheaded the Bridgetown Initiative: a political agenda for the reform of three intersection crises: debt, climate, and inflation. The Bridgetown Initiative aims to unlock climate finance for the Most Vulnerable Countries with the creation of new instruments and reform of existing institutions to finance climate resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Even as the Bridgetown Initiative awaits international uptake, Barbados is in transition. As Polo and I walked around the island, we laid eyes on the recognizable first signs of an energy system in transition: solar PV arrays covering public buildings and electric busses criss-crossing the roads. After a long-lasting transatlantic passage, it filled our hearts with hope to see that it’s not just Europe where the gears are slowly turning towards an alternatively-powered society.
BUT — here I must confess to leading you down a false path. It doesn’t feel right to write about Barbados without giving the Bridgetown Initiative its due, but it’s not actually the subject of this article. Today, I want to focus on a specific, under-utilized piece of climate technology, with the hope that the subsequent deep dive can teach us something about making the most of what we already have available to usher in the energy transition — no electric SUVs required.
One of the central realizations we’ve had while on The Green Journey is that too often, climate dialogue and coverage are focused on the future rather than the present. Commitments and pledges are all well and good, but they mean nothing if they are quietly abandoned. It’s actual project progress and investment that moves the needle towards a better future.
That’s how we come to this story: long before Mia Mottley took office, the island of Barbados has actually been the hub of a renewable energy revolution, fifty years in the making. Before the Bridgetown Initiative, before the coverage of its 2030 net-zero ambition, this small island nation was well on its way to claim its place as the leading country in the world for one of the most practical, affordable, and enjoyable renewable energy technologies available.
Introducing, solar hot water!
What is solar hot water?
Well, it’s not the same thing as a solar PV system. To the naked eye, it might look like our modern houses and apartments are all powered by one magic, centralized system that responds to the flick of a switch. But the underlying mechanisms of a building's energy demand are more complex: in your Standard American Dwelling (SAD!) you might have more sources of energy than you can count on one hand. Electricity for your lights, natural gas for your clothes dryer, propane for your cooking, biomass for heating, oil for your car… you get the picture.
So when we talk about achieving net-zero buildings — a critical objective, since recent International Energy Agency (IEA) data shows that 26% of global energy-related emissions come from building operations — we need to think beyond just putting solar on every available rooftop. We need to go into the bones of the system and make sustainable exchanges — a gas burner for an induction stove, a traditional heat pump for an electric one, and so on.
This is where solar hot water comes in. In the United States, water heating accounts for around 20% of your home energy bill — and is the 2nd-largest line item, after climate control itself. Using the direct power of the sun, rather than fossil fuels — or even renewable electricity pulled from the grid — emerges as an effective, cost-saving, and ingenious solution to this meaningful component of the net-zero equation.
How does it work?
Residential solar PV can get a little complicated. You need a qualified electrician, an inverter, an ideal south-facing roof orientation with a 30-degree pitch, sufficient mounting strength to hold a full 5kW system.
Solar hot water, on the other hand, is independent and super simple. Simply install it on your roof, and you are set! You only need 1-2 panels to make it work, and unlike natural gas or electric water heaters, which require municipal hookups, the system can be totally autonomous.
The workings are exceptionally simple: sunlight heats up a solar thermal collector, which is basically like a solar panel except with simple, fluid-filled tubes (no polysilicon required. The hot water then flows through pipes, carrying heat with it, to an insulated storage tank. This tank keeps the water warm until you need it for something like a piping hot shower or washing the dishes. When you turn on the hot water tap, the tank is sent to your faucet, delivering what you need, right on demand!
It’s a pretty ingenious, low-profile piece of technology. It also has massive impact. According to research done by Project Drawdown, solar hot water systems have the potential to reduce emissions between 4 and 14 Gt CO2 equivalent over the next two and a half decades — and that’s only if implemented in residential settings.
Here’s another thing: in climate tech parlance, you wouldn’t be remiss in calling the solar hot water system a ‘low-tech’ solution. The actual mechanisms of the system haven’t evolved significantly in the last 50 years, and it doesn’t require massive speculative investments to make real impact. As we learned in Barbados, all it could take to realize the benefits is a little more awareness of the benefits — and a little government push!
Meet Solar Dynamics
To better understand how Barbados became the #1 country in the world for solar water heater capacity per capita, we met with George Connolly, CEO of Solar Dynamics. A sunny day brought us to the company’s manufacturing HQ in Bridgetown itself, where we were welcomed into Connolly’s office. We received a quick history of the enterprise and a tour of the production floor.
Established in 1972 by entrepreneur James Husbands, Solar Dynamics is one of the leading manufacturers of solar hot water systems in the Caribbean, with plants in both Barbados and the neighboring island of Saint Lucia.
Solar Dynamics didn’t invent the system they manufacture and sell. But they played a major role in making it near-ubiquitous on the island of Barbados.
Husbands first founded the company in response to the rapid rise of oil prices in the early 1970s. While the crunch was felt in pocketbooks worldwide, it hit especially hard for SIDs like Barbados, where fossil fuels supplied >95% of the country’s energy needs — and there was no way to obtain them domestically. Because water heating made up a signfiicant portion of Barbadian energy bills, the market was ripe for a low-cost solution. Husbands demonstrated the technology’s effectiveness by installing it on the home of then-Prime Minster Tom Adams, whose annual gas bill promptly went down by 70%.
Over the next decade, Adams helped champion a series of measures — notably, a homeowner tax credit and government purchase of solar hot water for state housing — that helped the local industry grow. In 2003, it was estimated that the domestic industry saved Barbados 180,000 barrels of oil a year. By 2009, there were more than 45,000 installed solar hot water systems on the island of Barbados — or 1 for every 6 people. Pretty impressive!
Connolly credits the company’s success in part to the government support, but noted that today, Solar Dynamics operates profitably across Barbados — and other Caribbean nations — without tax credits. He credits consumer demand and low lifetime cost as two continued drivers of the company’s success.
“Once you’ve taken a hot shower, you don’t want to go back,” Connolly told The Green Journey. “And what people love about our systems is that the cost is the lowest option on the market, over a lifetime.”
Wait — why is this the first time I’m hearing about solar hot water?
That’s what I said, too. Back when I used to work as a strategy consultant in the solar industry, we used to do a lot of growth and go-to-market strategies in the residential solar space.
‘Adjacencies’ and ‘cross-selling’ were both big buzzwords: we dreamed up dozens of ways to bundle solar PV installations with electric heat pumps, EV chargers, and smart home systems. But in all my time there, we never actually crossed paths with solar hot water as a way to further decarbonize a building’s footprint. The system is perhaps redundant if you’re running an electric water heater on 100% renewable power (not many homes are), but if you’re one of the >50% of Americans currently running a gas water heater, replacing your fossil fuel guzzler for a sun-heated shower is a natural next step.
What’s next?
If you found this story interesting, here’s a few things you can do:
Dig deeper into the history of solar hot water: We highly recommend this insightful investigation by climate journalist
. He digs into the history of how, and why, the United States ended up with so little solar hot water capacity — and what could potentially be done to change it.
Advocate for policy change: As Thomas points out in his article, mandatory requirements for solar hot water, like those in Israel and Cyprus, may be one of the best tools we have to get more of these systems in place. If you believe in the power of solar hot water as a climate solution, consider writing your congressperson to raise the issue and put solar hot water on the agenda.
Share this story: If you liked this story, or learned something from it, consider sharing The Green Journey with a friend or your network. A little climate information goes a long way!
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