Solar thermal energy is dead! A solar thermal heating system can cost upwards of $7,000 to install and it most likely won't even save you too much money. This is why many people debate over whether they should use a solar thermal water heating system, because they think they are saving money, or an inexpensive traditional water heating system. A traditional heating system is a system that is powered off of electricity, gas, oil or some other fuel. A solar thermal heating system uses the energy from the sun, hence “solar”, and it turns that energy into hot water to either heat a home or to provide domestic hot water. The energy from the sun is captured by energy collectors, also known as solar panels. The water is heated inside the panels and then distributed throughout the home for use or stored in a tank for later use. The ideas behind this sound great, but in reality that is not the case.Solar thermal energy is not the best choice for home heating a home or hot water heating.
Solar thermal energy is not the best way to heat your home and hot water because it is a very inefficient system. For example Martin Holladay from Green Building Advisor suggests that solar thermal energy is inconsistent. During the long days of summer more hot water is produced than what is needed. But during the dark, cold winter there is not enough hot water (parag. 6-9). This demonstrates that this method of heating is inconsistent and unreliable. During the winter when you need the heat the most, you will not have it. Plus in the summer, when hot water is not needed as much, hot water is produced in large amounts but there is no way to store it for a long time period which makes the system inefficient. As Michael Wolfe states “Devices cannot generat...
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Saini, Keshav. "Solar Thermal Energy Pros and Cons | Environmental Issues." Environmental Issues Blog. N.p., 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
Siegel, RP. "Solar Thermal: Pros and Cons - Part 1: Solar Heating and Cooling." Triple Pundit RSS. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
U.S. Department of Energy. A Consumer's Guide: Heat Your Water with the Sun. Washington D.C.: n.p., 2003. Print.
U.S. Department of Energy. A Consumer's Guide: Heat Your Water with the Sun. Washington D.C.: n.p., 2003. Print.
Wolfe, Michael. "Pros & Cons of Solar Thermal Energy." EHow. Demand Media, 06 July 2010. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
... the sun isn’t as high up in the sky. Large open spaces and a covered loft promote stack ventilation which also further increase the comfort zone. A mud room/hallway doubles as an airlock during extreme temperature months. The addition of active systems suffices for the rest of the heating load. On the roof positioned is a solar hot water panel which has access to solar gain. A small tankless electric water heater boosts stored hot water temperatures when needed. The ultimate goal is to simply reduce energy use by half of what the average household uses. The equipment chosen is an Eemax Electric Tankless Hot Water Heater. A solar hot water panel mounted on the dormer heats water through glycol exchange. A tankless electric hot water heater 1) boosts the solarheated stored water if it is below desired temps and 2) provides back up water heating during cloudy periods.
It will be interesting to see if solar panel saunas are a thing of the future or if they will be developed to efficiently in our homes of the present. If power can be collected by the energy of the sun and then used to heat our home sauna then it will be a great energy saver.
Lof, George. “Solar Energy: An Infinite Source of Clean Energy.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol 410:52
Two people who believe this are reporters at the Breit Bart News Network. Julian Morris and Victor Nava believe that, “‘Green’ energy subsidies benefit the politically connected while harming future generations as hundreds of millions of dollars are added to the country’s debt burden with each green failure.” In a way Morris and Nava are correct. According to Mathias Aarre Maehlum, “Residential solar systems are typically sized from 3 to 8kW and end up costing between $15,000 and $40,000.” This can add up to become very expensive when implementing solar energy throughout the country. However, with the advancements in technology growing every year the cost will decrease over time. The cost of implementation can in fact go down as well through the use of community solar gardens. This helps the homes that are shaded and cannot absorbs the Sun’s energy. The energy from the community solar gardens are shared through out those homes. Switching to solar energy can also save money over time. Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association confirms this. Resch says, “Today, the solar industry employs nearly 175,000 Americans and pumps more than $15 billion a year into the U.S. economy – and we’re just scratching the surface of our enormous potential” (qtd. in
Afgan, Naim H. "Sustainable Nuclear Energy Dilemma." Thermal Science 17.2 (2013): 305-321. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
For the past few weeks, my classmates and I have been collecting data on the amount energy in kilowatts produced by solar panels on a given day. We have been guessing how many kilowatts of energy would be generated based on the forecast for each day, and then we were left with our estimates and the actual production of that day. In order to make this activity useful, we then took both numbers and found our percent error both weekly and daily. My best percent error days throughout the whole time were 1.09 and 0.44%. Now, needless to say, there were some bad days too. It was only easy to get a good percent error when the weather did what is was supposed to do, when we had an accurate scale to follow, and when there wasn’t
Rotman, David. "Finding a Solar Solution." Technology Review 2 (2012): 48-51. Print. 22 November 2014.
Solar water heating has been around for many years because it is the easiest way to use the sun to save energy and money (Lewis, 2005). The first solar water heater that resembles the concept still in use today was a metal tank that was painted black and placed on the roof where it was tilted toward the sun (Cromer, et al., 2006). The concept worked, but it usually took all day for the water to heat, then, as soon as the sun went down, it cooled off quickly because the tank was not insulated (Cromer, et al., 2006). In some rural areas, the olden method of water heating through sun is still practiced, where water is poured into a plastic basin and placed on the sun through the day.
... and monthly water filling. Solar energy is the cleanest and purest form of energy, allowing for cleaner air overall in our environment. There is great hope for a lot more solar panels to be installed worldwide. Solar is a viable alternative energy with solar panels becoming more affordable and more efficiently designed.
How Efficient is Solar Energy Technology? Engineering Challenges. n. d. a. d. a. d. d. 8 April 2014. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9082.aspx>. How do Nuclear Plants Work?”
There are many benefits of using solar water heaters. Sunlight is free and environmentally friendly and this planet has so much to use(“Getting better acquainted”). The sun’s energy is renewable, suns energy is all over the world (“Getting better acquainted”). Solar energy has many uses, and it can be stored and used. “Solar energy can be used in many ways to provide heat, lighting, mechanical power, and electricity” (“Getting Better Acquainted”). New steps are being made in solar technology to save resources. America will save so much money and many barrels of oil by switching to solar power, “Skyrocketing fuel prices and tax credit of nearly 30% established in the energy policy act of 2005”(“Tapping into the sun”). The solar water system won’t cost much only “$3000 to $6000” (“Tapping into the sun”) so it will be affordable. “The technology can cut the average family’s costs to heat water by 20 to 40 percent (as much as 90% in some southwestern regions)”(“Tapping into the sun”).
Solar power utilizes the sun’s energy to produce electricity, unlike other sources of energy, which rely on continual mining for raw materials. Consequently, producing solar energy from the heat from the sun does not result in the annihilation of the ecosystem, compared to the extraction of fossil fuels (Bode, 2005). Therefore, with the use of solar energy, it will help keep the environment clean, thus helping to combat the issue of global warming, which is a threat to the world’s ecosystem worldwide. The use of solar energy will help save the worlds vegetation, and help prevent the effects of global warming in future.... ... middle of paper ...
Delucchi, Mark A., and Mark Z. Jacobson. "Meeting the World's Energy Needs with Wind, Water, and Solar Power." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (2013): 31-40. Web.
When the sun heats the panel, it generates clean energy, which does not pollute the environment. All in all, the costs of solar power might not be applicable when it is certainly the best way to have a clean environment.
US DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. (2006, July 26). Retrieved July 26, 2006, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/