Harnessing the Sun for Home Heat
We have all gotten used to having heat on demand,but the ways that heat is generated are largely inefficient.Using solar energy to heat our homes,schools,and businesses is not only more energy efficient but cost effective too.Heat from the sun can be captured in several ways,even in winter. To be able to harness the sun’s heat you will need a solar source.This is something that will attract the sun’s rays and trap the heat that is generated by them.A sun room is a good example of this.
Sun rooms are attached to the house and are typically constructed of floor to ceiling glass panels.They are usually built to face the full morning sun so as to get the full effect of the heat. The glass intensifies the sun’s rays so that everything in the room is heated. This is a very efficient and generally economical way of heating.
Some other forms of solar power heat are:
Thermal mass that absorbs and retains heat while the sun is shining then releases the heat when the sun goes down.
A natural ventilation and solar heating system, the Trombe Wall, uses air channels to trap heat between glass and a solar mass facing the sun. That sunlight is then absorbed and stored in the wall before being circulated through vents in the top and bottom of the wall.The wall uses this to radiate the heat.
The solar chimney is another solar ventilation system. It is made from a thermal mass that is hollow inside. The chimney warms air inside of the chimney causing the heat to rise,allowing the air to circulate and vent properly.
A good way to ventilate a building is using solar cooling. This is done by absorbing solar heat and cooling it by making ice with a solar powered steam engine attached to the cooling device.
There are of course many ways to heat and cool our homes and businesses, but the methods listed above demonstrate the ways it can be done using only the sun. This is one of the better ways because it uses only natural resources rather than through methods that use non renewable materials.
There are a multitude of ways to heat your home with Solar power as Alexei Nevic has pointed out in his very helpful article. You may visit Alexei’s site for some wonderful ideas on Solar heating products and some.
