Commercial Hot Water: Heating water with natural gas, propane or electricity is energy-intensive and expensive, especially when an operation requires large volumes of hot water. Businesses such as restaurants, hotels, health care and food processing, for example, use extensive amounts of hot water adding significant cost to operations. A professionally designed and installed solar thermal water heating system can be one of the most cost-effective options to reduce long-term operating costs and impact on the environment. Commercial solar hot water projects require specialty skills for sizing, design and installation. In general, commercial hot water systems will off-set more energy per dollar invested than with photovoltaics, resulting in a higher return-on-investment (ROI) business case scenario.