Solar Water Heating Improves in Rural Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad

In the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-2021), 476 solar water heaters were installed gratis in Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad rural areas not linked to the gas grid, director general of the provincial Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization said.
“With the new installations, the number of solar water heaters delivered to the rural and nomadic population in the southwestern region has reached 1, 426,” IRNA quoted Ghulam Hussein Hekmatian as saying.
One of the challenges that endanger the conservation of natural resources is the burning of fuel fuels in rural and nomadic areas near forests, he said.
“In less developed areas, normally there is a shortage of fossil fuel so people use firewood for heating and cooking causing serious damage to forests,” he added.
The solar water heaters in addition to curbing rural to urban migration have helped reduce deforestation by 60%, Hekmatian said.
Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad is mostly mountainous and its forests are part of the famous Zagros Range. It has an estimated 800,000 hectares of jungles. 
Solar water heating is the conversion of sunlight into renewable energy for water heating using a solar thermal collector.
SWH systems are designed to deliver hot water for most of the year. However, in winter there sometimes may not be sufficient solar heat gain to deliver enough hot water. In this case, a gas or electric booster can be used to heat the water.
According to published reports, of the 6 million hectares of the lush forests across the Zagros region one million have been lost to deforestation.