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The report "Review of the Role of Renewable Energy in Global Energy Scenarios" states that solar water heating was considered in only a few scenarios (pg15).

The 2007 Solar Heating Worldwide 2007 by the International Energy Agency's Solar Heating and Cooling programme indicates that the US lags in deploying flat-plate, residential solar thermal systems, yet leads in the deployment of unglazed thermal panels for heating swimming pools.

The IEA highlights the environmental impact of existing solar thermal systems with this statement: "The annual collector yield of all solar thermal systems in operation by year end of 2005 in the 45 recorded countries is 66,406 GWh (239,062 TJ). This corresponds to an oil equivalent of 10.7 billion liters and an annual avoidance of 29.3 million tons of CO₂" Follow title's link to view full IEA-SHC report.

Although the mix of renewable energy production has changed between 1973 and 2004, only about 6% of energy production was from renewables in 1973 and 2004.

Click on title's link for full report.

The report also states that current US administration's 2007 budget scenarios propose eliminating a project where the "DOE seeks to reduce the costs of solar water-heating systems operating in cold climates from about 11 to 12 cents per kilowatt-hour today to about 5 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2011" (pg 18). This is understandable, since savings from solar-water heating systems pay back significantly more than they cost regardless of fuel used to heat water.