subject: Solar Energy House [print this page] The other way that sunlight can help you build your solar energy house is to have solar collection panels. These are little more than black-painted boxes that are covered in glass with copper tubes running inside, through which water flows. As the sun heats the tubes, just like a greenhouse, the heat cannot escape the box and so heats the water in the tubes, which can then be stored in an insulated tank, very similar to a regular water heater.
