Heating Your Home

Solar Power - Heating Your Home With The Sun

The idea of heating your home with the sun is hardly new. Since the dawn of humankind the sun has been used to provide needed warmth. But modern technology has completely transformed the way that can be done, even from the methods used a few generations ago.

In the 1920s some municipalities supplied hot water to homes by large storage tanks that were heated by the sun. As the unit cost of electricity and gas decreased, such applications became relatively too expensive to compete. But old ideas often become new again, with a twist. Modern hot water heating systems using solar power have now been in use for more than 30 years.

But what's even newer are ways of heating the home using solar energy that go well beyond simple windows. It's certainly possible to just allow sunlight to stream into a window. But that often leads to areas of the home that are too bright. It generates areas that are too warm, while others receive too little heat.

Modern solar heating systems can redirect solar energy to provide an even, comfortable temperature throughout the house.

Some such systems use water or a salt water mixture. The tubes and channels that contain the liquid sometimes lie in small parabolic mirror-type troughs that concentrate the sun's rays to raise the water temperature. That's how many solar water heating systems work (minus the salt, of course). But that same technology can be adapted to supply home heat.

Most water systems are designed to keep the heat from escaping. That way, the water doesn't have to be continually reheated and hot water is available on demand. But home heating systems reverse that idea and allow some of that heat to escape.

In one application, a series of tubes runs under wooden, clay or other materials used for flooring. By design, the heat gradually flows through the flooring and rises up into the air to provide a comfortable interior environment.

Clever designers have taken the idea one step further. They know that water isn't the only common fluid in our environment. Air is also a fluid. Not a liquid, but a fluid as scientists define it. That gives it some of the properties of a liquid in that it flows easily.

Filling the tubes with air or other gas makes it possible to still absorb and deposit heat where it's wanted. At the same time, because the gas is not a liquid, if a leak occurs there's no major damage to the home.

Such applications aren't as efficient at storing heat as liquid systems because they're not as dense. But neither would you have to endure the cost of major repairs in case something goes wrong. If the system springs a leak, it's only necessary to patch it or replace a small section, an inexpensive operation especially compared to the cost of replacing flooring or walls after a water leak.

Such problems are not as rare as they may seem. In climates where the weather becomes quite cold in the winter, water inside pipes does sometimes freeze and break the pipe. Yet, at the same time, there are many such cold days that still supply plenty of sunshine that could be used in a solar heating system.

Investigate the possible applications for your home and you'll discover a wide array of options.