The Pros Of Using Solar Passive Energy
Passive solar energy is the sun's energy accepted without resistance...or assistance
. Passive solar energy requires no moving parts. Although fans are sometimes used in passive solar homes for even distribution of the air, they're not required. Nor are pumps, mechanical or other electrical elements including in the design. Even the fans that are sometimes used in passive solar homes are generally solar powered.
Passive solar energy doesn't even require the help of photovoltaics (PV's). With careful home design and planning, walls, windows, and floors can be used to collect solar energy in the winter and disperse it effectively. In a basic passive solar design, large south-facing windows are used to collect solar energy as the sun shines on the windows. Then, the heat, or energy, is distributed and stored in concrete, tile, stone, brick, or water, called thermal mass. When it is no longer sunny, the heat stored in the thermal mass is distributed throughout the building via the thermal mass. In the summer, passive solar energy systems are designed to utilize roof overhangs and awnings to reject heat in the summer.
By calculating the best use of the sun's energy, the Greeks and the Romans created the first passive solar energy designs for their homes...a design still very much in use today.
Taking advantage of passive solar design made sense then, and it makes even greater sense now. Driven by diminishing wood supplies, upon which they had relied greatly for heat, the Greeks and Romans began to design passive solar energy homes to reduce their reliance on wood for heating. We can certainly learn and take advantage of what they discovered, and allow it to help us eliminate or supplement our need for non-renewable energy sources.
Passive solar energy is extremely clean. It's also totally renewable and doesn't emit greenhouse gases. By design, a passive solar energy home will maintain an even temperature throughout, and generally touted by homeowners as much cleaner and more comfortable than a comparable conventional system.
A further cost savings in most passive solar energy homes is found in the water heater, which also decreases reliance on conventional energy sources. There are three primary varieties of passive solar hot water heaters: batch heaters, evacuated tube heaters, and flat plate heaters. Of the three, batch heaters are the most popular, perhaps because they are the least difficult to construct, adding to their popularity with do-it-yourselfers. If you want to make your own, you can use a salvaged electric water heater. Make sure it's cleaned out well, sealed and painted black. Then, build a plywood box for it, insulate the box, cover the inside with foil for a reflectant, run pipes (you'll probably want to buy new fittings and pipe) out of the box, glaze it...cover it with fiberglass or similar material, seal it and connect the pipes. Depending on the amount of sunlight you have and the placement of the heater, you'll either get warm, preheated water that will need to go into an auxiliary tank for complete heating, or fully heated water. Placing your tank upright at an angle appears to produce the best heating operation. This is an extremely effective, simple, inexpensive way to take advantage of passive energy.
You can also use a batch, or what is sometimes also referred to as a breadbox heater, with a staged design system. Using more than one encased heater, you can place them in different areas around your home. This allows you to take advantage of the sun's various angles to obtain the most heat from the sun's hottest rays. Other passive hot water systems, including flat plate and evacuated tube are also used in solar passive homes. However, they aren't always as effective, and their designs are more compatible with professional installation.
There you have it...numerous benefits of going solar. But in case you're not quite convinced, here's a few more. There's no global warming with solar energy. You won't see headlines in the news about the sun spilling into the ocean, creating miles of oil slick, killing wildlife, destroying businesses and the tourist trade...or damaging our fragile environmental ecosystem. Solar energy doesn't create acid rain, nor does it create smog.
There are many "pros" to solar energy, as we are increasingly discovering...or should I say re-discovering?
by: Timothy Peters.
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