Solar Space Heating
Space heating means heating the space inside a building. Today, many homes use solar energy for space heating. A passive solar home is designed to let in as much sunlight as possible. It is like a big solar collector.
Sunlight passes through the windows and heats the walls and floor inside the house. The light can get in, but the heat is trapped inside. A passive solar home does not depend on mechanical equipment, such as pumps and blowers, to heat the house. An active solar home, on the other hand, uses special equipment to collect sunlight. An active solar house may use special collectors that look like boxes covered with glass.
These collectors are mounted on the rooftop facing south to take advantage of the winter sun. Dark-colored metal plates inside the boxes absorb sunlight and change it into heat. (Black absorbs sunlight better than any other color.) Air or water flows through the collectors and is warmed by the heat. The warm air or water is distributed to the house, just as it would be with an ordinary furnace system.
Solar Hot Water Heating
Solar energy can be used to heat water. Heating water for bathing, dishwashing, and clothes washing is the second biggest home energy cost. A solar water heater works a lot like solar space heating. In our hemisphere, a solar collector is mounted on the south side of a roof where it can capture sunlight. The sunlight heats water in a tank. The hot water is piped to faucets throughout a house, just as it would be with an ordinary water heater. Today, more than one million homes and 200,000 businesses in the U.S. use solar water heaters.
Solar Electricity
Solar energy can also be used to produce electricity. Two ways to make electricity from solar energy are photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.
Sunlight passes through the windows and heats the walls and floor inside the house. The light can get in, but the heat is trapped inside. A passive solar home does not depend on mechanical equipment, such as pumps and blowers, to heat the house. An active solar home, on the other hand, uses special equipment to collect sunlight. An active solar house may use special collectors that look like boxes covered with glass.
These collectors are mounted on the rooftop facing south to take advantage of the winter sun. Dark-colored metal plates inside the boxes absorb sunlight and change it into heat. (Black absorbs sunlight better than any other color.) Air or water flows through the collectors and is warmed by the heat. The warm air or water is distributed to the house, just as it would be with an ordinary furnace system.
Solar Hot Water Heating
Solar energy can be used to heat water. Heating water for bathing, dishwashing, and clothes washing is the second biggest home energy cost. A solar water heater works a lot like solar space heating. In our hemisphere, a solar collector is mounted on the south side of a roof where it can capture sunlight. The sunlight heats water in a tank. The hot water is piped to faucets throughout a house, just as it would be with an ordinary water heater. Today, more than one million homes and 200,000 businesses in the U.S. use solar water heaters.
Solar Electricity
Solar energy can also be used to produce electricity. Two ways to make electricity from solar energy are photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.
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