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[S699]Solar For Your Home

by Richard Solare, Ric

Green building is all about implementing environmental and energy efficient strategies into a structure. It can be done on a small scale such as heating a pool or a large scale such as when building a skyscraper in the heart of New York City. Regardless of the situation, solar power is one of the popular renewable energy platforms being used today.

When it comes to solar power, most people understand the basics. Sunlight is converted into energy. For most people, this means solar panels are used to generate electricity. You know, those panels on the top of homes around your neighborhood. In reality, there are two different approaches to solar power. Both may be in your neighborhood, but one is hard to notice unless you know what you are looking for.

Active solar power is a concept practically everyone knows. This is the panel system. A set of panels is placed on a roof or backyard. The panels are made up of solar cells. The cells tend to have a silicone component in them. When sunlight strikes the silicone, it causes a chemical reaction. An electron is shot off the silicon creating a charge. This charge is gathered by wires in the solar cell and sent down the line to an adapter. The adapter converts the energy from AC to DC. It is then stored in a batter or fed into the electrical grid for your local utility company. Active solar power, however, is not the only game in town.

Passive solar is very popular in some parts of the country. Unless you have looked into what solar has to offer, you probably do not know about it. Passive solar involves no panel systems. There are no batteries to be charged. Nothing is fed into the grid system for the local utility. Instead, passive solar is used for heating purposes.

Have you ever locked your car in mall parking lot on a hot summer day? What happens when you open the door to get back in? A blast of furnace like heat comes rushing out when you open the door. When you sit down on the seat, the heat makes you do a little shuffling dance. This is the power of passive solar. The sun is used to heat structures.

Passive solar is a great way to heat a home. The idea is to position the home in such a way that the sun penetrates to the maximum extent possible through windows. Below the windows, you should install dark materials that absorb heat such as dark red bricks. During the day, the bricks heat up. As night falls, the bricks or other materials give off heat for hours to keep the home warm. Obviously, a full blown discussion of passive solar is a bit more complex, but this is the basic idea.

The next time someone mentions solar power to you, keep in mind there are two distinct approaches to using the energy in sunlight. Both work well, but perform very different purposes.

Solar heat for homes is not a daydream. As energy prices rise and the global community talks of energy sources drying up, solar homes are becoming increasingly appealing to consumers. So is the idea of heating the home with solar energy. As a result, ways to heat a home with solar energy are becoming more affordable.

Solar heat for homes can be achieved in several ways. It is not simply a matter of placing photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof and generating electricity for a furnace. That can be done, but other things can also be done to get solar heat for homes.

Passive Solar Heat for Homes

Passive solar is one of the simplest methods of acquiring solar heat for homes. Passive solar heating collects and distributes heat from the sun without external, mechanical pumping systems.

Passive solar heat for homes begins by positioning the solar home in such a way that it takes full advantage of winter sunlight to warm interior rooms and walls. In the northern hemisphere, a solar home will be positioned to give its main area southern exposure. In the southern hemisphere, a solar home will be positioned to give its main area northern exposure.

Passive solar heat for homes is also available through building materials and architectural design. A solar home should have many vertical windows on its winter sun exposure side to collect solar warmth. These windows should be glazed, and uncovered during the day to allow warmth to enter. As the sun goes down, shades and curtains should be drawn to retain the heat. The side of the solar home that gets summer sunlight should have fewer, and smaller, windows.

A passive solar home should feature masses of brick, concrete, stone, or adobe (mud bricks) that absorb and hold heat during the day, releasing it gradually as the air cools. These building materials should be used for walls and floors where the sunlight will hit them.

Passive solar heat for homes also requires thick insulation. Once heat has entered the solar home through large, glazed windows, insulation will help hold it there as the air cools. Placing the garage on the non-solar side and main living quarters on the "exposure" side also helps heat a solar home.

Active Solar Heat for Homes

Active solar systems for heating a solar home consist of "collectors" that collect solar energy, and electric fans or pumps to distribute collected heat. Heat is transferred by liquid or air, and can be stored to provide heat when the sun is not shining.

Solar air "collectors" will collect solar energy in air passing through the system. The air absorbs the sun's heat, and transfers it into the solar home. This works best for heating individual rooms, although some systems can heat larger areas with the use of pumps and fans. Solar air collectors for individual rooms can be mounted in an existing window.

Solar liquid "collectors" are more appropriate for central heating. These are the same type of collector as those used in solar water heating systems. Flat plate collectors are mounted, usually on a roof. Each collector contains water, antifreeze, or another liquid that will collect the solar energy. At a predetermined time, regulated by a controller, a circulating pump sends the fluid through the roof-top collector. The liquid is directed to a heat exchanger for immediate use, or sent to a storage tank for later use.

Active liquid solar heat for homes can be sent through pipes under the floor to maintain an even radiant heat at floor level. Radiant floor heating is ideal for liquid solar systems. It performs well, even at relatively low temperatures.

Combination Solar Heat for Homes

The best solar home will combine passive and active solar energy collection. Passive solar heating can reduce heating bills by nearly 50 percent. Active solar heating can supply 40 to 80 percent of your heat, depending on your local climate and the system's size. Put the two together, and you have a solar home that is comfortable and efficient.

If concrete floors topped with tile are already warmed by passive solar heating, an active system that send hot water through pipes in those floors will keep the solar home cozy and warm.

Free Heating

Aside from any initial costs for active solar energy systems, solar heat for homes can be free. It is clean and environmentally friendly. It leaves a smaller carbon footprint, too. Is it for you? That is worth serious consideration.

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About Author

Both Richard Solare & Anna Hart are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Richard Solare has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Travel, Home and Home Improvement. Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - a directory of .. Richard Solare's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.

Anna Hart has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Backpain and Acid Reflux. © 2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about solar homes at . Anna has posted articles on. Anna Hart's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.