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Energy is abundant, there is no need to shiver in the cold. Solar forced warm air is inexpensive, simple technology that is very underutilized. Solar photovolt
by willholloway 12y ago
Energy is abundant, there is no need to shiver in the cold. Solar forced warm air is inexpensive, simple technology that is very underutilized.
Solar photovoltaics get all the attention, but solar warm air/water is less expensive and simple to manufacture.
http://sunmatesolarpanels.com/content/view/2/31/ http://sunmatesolarpanels.com/content/view/2/31/
- roel_v 12y agoBut you can't power a computer on PV. I don't think anyone who knows something about energy efficient heating suggests PV to warm a house electrically, it's too inefficient.
- jtheory 12y agoNot my comment you're responding to, but it's not talking about PV for heating (that'd be kind of ridiculous, honestly). Systems for heating water/air using solar can be quite inexpensive as well; converting light to heat is rather easier than converting it to electricity. E.g., I've seen cheap pool-heating systems that just pump the water through wide flattened black pipes exposed to the sun and send it back into the pool. Voila, solar heating!
- roel_v 12y agoYeah my second sentence was a non sequitur, but my point was: you can only do a little with solar/water heating. Yes heating a pool is one of those things, but that's a very niche application. This thread is about heating a house, or at least about being comfortable in one, and solar/water is just not a viable technology for that in the vast majority of cases.
- jtheory 12y agoOh... you said "PV" in both sentences, which is specifically converting light to electricity; that's what threw me. For heating a house with solar (not PV) -- it would depend on insulation level, I'd imagine. I do know people who use it for "most of the time" water heating, with good results.