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Accessible use of solar energy in developing countries

The first area of opportunity is detected in the importance of the use and high cost of LP gas in homes and its strategic role in the production of sanitary hot water, since in countries such as Mexico up to 54% of energy consumption is used for this activity, which is considered a basic service for adequate sanitary conditions in homes.

Secondly, there are the high costs of commercial technologies to take advantage of solar energy in the domestic sphere in relation to the low purchasing power of most of the population. Proof of this is the Mexican case, since 1970 the first solar heaters began to be marketed to produce domestic hot water in homes, 52 years later less than 7% of households have commercial equipment that allows them to take advantage of this renewable energy to improve their quality of life. 

- The main cause of this problem is the low purchasing power of most of the population, which allocates its precarious resources to meet basic needs such as food, housing and health, to which we must add that in many poor areas there are public safety problems that hinder the maintenance of equipment.

- The second cause is that despite having a commercial solar heater in the home this does not ensure a sufficient and constant supply of hot water when weather conditions are not ideal for solar collection, such is the case of Mexico City whose rainy season can last up to 7 months, so it is necessary to have support systems or equipment such as heaters or tank heaters that operate based on LP gas or electricity which increases costs between      $ 2000.00 and $ 3000.00 to which must be added the energy expenditure they represent.

One out of every three households in Mexico cannot meet their energy needs for lighting, cooling and thermal comfort, to the detriment of their well-being and quality of life.

Academics who have analyzed the issue estimate that this phenomenon, which directly affects access to human rights, impacts up to 36.7% of all households.

For 46.6 million people in Mexico, LP gas for domestic consumption represents an expense that substantially affects their scarce economic resources, but since it is an indispensable product, they have to allocate fewer resources to other basic needs such as food, health, housing and education.



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Low-cost plastic solar water heater that saves up to 70% in LP gas consumption in the home and serves as a storage tank for drinking water.

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The first area of opportunity is detected in the importance of the use and high cost of LP gas in homes and its strategic role in the production of sanitary hot water, since in countries such as Mexico up to 54% of energy consumption is used for this activity, which is considered a basic service for adequate sanitary conditions in homes.

Secondly, there are the high costs of commercial technologies to take advantage of solar energy in the domestic sphere in relation to the low purchasing power of most of the population. Proof of this is the Mexican case, since 1970 the first solar heaters began to be marketed to produce domestic hot water in homes, 52 years later less than 7% of households have commercial equipment that allows them to take advantage of this renewable energy to improve their quality of life. 

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In Mexico there is little use of the abundant resource that solar energy represents in the domestic environment for the generation of hot water for sanitary use, which means that families continue to spend a significant part of their income on paying for the most popular energy sources such as LP gas and electricity.

Of the 35 million existing homes, only 2 million have a commercial solar water heater, despite the fact that for more than 50 years this equipment has been offered in the national market, so the majority of the population does not use this clean and renewable energy.

Therefore, an investigation was carried out using data from INEGI and interviews with users who do not have solar thermal equipment, yielding the following information:

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