Poultry houses can consume a fair amount of energy – solar heaters and solar panels for chicken houses may be able to solve some of these problems, and at the same time contribute to the green economy. While solar panel technology is well established in South Africa, it is yet to be integrated into poultry farming. A large chicken house uses a fair amount of hot water – most of it is in the “shower in” and “shower out” rule that most commercial chicken farms follow. With the huge spaces on a chicken house roof, and the abundant sun power in S.A. it is a bit strange that solar panels are not extensively used on poultry farms. Of course, one of the biggest energy drains on a chicken farm is the heating and cooling a poultry house – and technology has not come far enough to make any commercial sense in using solar heaters. Gas is still the best way to heat a chicken house, and fans for cooling. Closed environment houses manage heating and cooling more effectively, but it is still a large portion of the costs involved in running a poultry farm. Many of the older chicken farms use coal for heating, while this is inexpensive for the farmer, the cost to the planet is huge, but as long as coal allowed, and actively marketed, it is unlikely that this will change.