Solar thermal energy sounds like an attractive proposition, but, for most people, the question they need the answer to first is "How does Solar Thermal Work?".
The use of solar energy to heat water is not a modern-day concept, and has been used since ancient times in one form or another.
The methods used to harness it have changed over the years, so we'll give some historical perspective before moving on to look at modern methods of tapping into solar thermal energy and how they work.
It Starts With The Hot Box
Glass and mirrors have been used since ancient times to turn the sun's energy into heat, but the first practical application was discovered in the mid-18th. century by Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure. De Saussure created a "hot box" which was actually 3 boxes, one inside the other, with wooden sides and bottom and a glass top. He exposed the box to the sun over a period of time, and found the temperature in the innermost box had reached 228 degrees Fahrenheit.
Solar thermal was off to its official start! The 20th century saw William Bailey develop the first solar water heating system in which the heating element was separated from the water tank, allowing greater quantities of heated water to be stored.
Solar Thermal Applications
Solar thermal technology has come a long way over the years and has been a veritable lifeline in many parts of the world where oil and other fossil fuels are in short supply.
Solar thermal is most commonly used to heat water, provide space heating and for heating pools. They all work along the same basic principle and use solar collectors to collect the sun's heat which heats air or fluid, which is then transferred to water, usually stored in a tank (pool heaters transfer the heat directly to the pool, and some industrial systems use no storage).
A Look At The Applications In More Detail
Solar water heating systems generally consist of a solar collector (usually a flat-plate collector) and a storage tank. The collector uses the sun's heat to heat either a transfer fluid or water, and hot water is then stored in the tank for later use. About two-thirds of a household's hot water supply is provided by these systems, with the rest supplied by conventional systems.
Active solar space-heating systems use medium-temperature collectors to absorb the sun's heat which in turn heats either liquid or air, which is transferred via fans or pumps directly into the building's heating system or into a storage tank and then into the heating system.
Solar pool heating systems use the pool's existing filtration system to pump water from the pool through a solar collector to heat the water, which is transferred directly back to the pool. Solar pool collectors are typically cheaper and are made from materials such as plastic.
Solar thermal energy systems provide a relatively inexpensive way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel derived energies and, as a result, the size of the energy bills we receive each month.
Now you've got some background information on the technology and how the various systems work, why not use this as a stepping stone to do more research and see if this would be a viable alternative for you?
Anything we can do to reduce our energy costs and our carbon footprint has got to be a good thing. Here's to you and your solar thermal future!
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