By Amanda Landry

This week a massive solar hot water system installed by representatives from Seacoast Energy Alternatives (SEA) and Granite State Plumbing and Heating for the new building at Cross Roads House in Portsmouth, NH, nears its finish. The system is made up of 16 flat plate collectors and a 900-gallon water storage tank, and are being installed as the new building is constructed. Only finishing touches remain in the basement, and the system is expected to be completed this week.

Cross Roads is an emergency and transitional shelter with a program to help the homeless get jobs and housing. Cross Roads needs this new building because the old building simply cannot adequately care for the number of people that stay there, which can rise up to 88 people per night. “We had safety and health concerns. The new building will not be increasing the number of people we can take in; it will increase the quality of the assistance we can give,” said Chris Sterndale, Executive Director at Cross Roads House.

One of the first things people do in the morning is take a shower, especially before a big job interview. “People are waking up at 3 and 4 am to take showers in order to make sure there is enough hot water for everyone,” said Jack Bingham, owner of SEA. “The biggest challenge for the homeless is entering the workplace and they need to be able to take a hot shower to start off the day right and present themselves well at interviews and for work.” When asked why Cross Roads chose to install a solar hot water system, Sterndale responded, “Cost is always a challenge for us. We go through quite a lot of hot water and this solution is the most cost-effective and meets our needs.”

With this system, the plates installed on the roof will generate energy from sunlight and heat the copper coils inside of the 900 gallon storage tank, which will heat the water. A solar hot water system helps save money because the water being sent to the hot water furnace is already at a much higher temperature, so it does not have to work as hard or at all. “Instead of sending water to their hot water furnace at 45 or 50 degrees this water could be at 100-150 degrees depending on the season. The hotter the solar water is, the less work the hot water furnace has to do,” explains Bingham.

Cross Roads does not have any plans for other energy alternatives yet, such as solar electricity, but they are excited that for this building they could make an environmentally sustainable choice with solar hot water that would be reliable and save money.

The new and improved Cross Roads building will be finished early November, and the roof top flat plate collectors will be visible going north on route 1.

For more information, contact:

Chris Sterndale, Executive Director at Cross Roads House: ; (603) 436-2218

Jack Bingham of SEA: www.seasolarstore.com; (888) 749-9550