Casino gamblers will be getting into hot water

SkyCity Casino is to use solar-heated water after the company installed solar panels on its hotel roof yesterday.

The panels will be supplying hot water to bathrooms on the gaming floor by the end of the month.

Water will be heated to 40C by flowing through a network of black latticed pipes, oriented to catch the sun on the hotel roof, and will descend into the building to be gas-heated to 55C.

Facility manager Matt Howells said harnessing the sun's energy would save about $17,000 a year in gas bills. But a big part of the panels' purpose was to act as a demonstration model for businesses and households.

The simple system could be scaled up or down depending on the business size.

"Even a domestic home could apply this kind of technology," he said.

The company is looking at more complicated technology, still in development, that might heat enough water to supply the hotel.