FXSTD – Alternative Energy Center

By: Abhishek Agarwal
We have been used to flicking gadgets--like turning a dial or pushing a button--everytime we want to make ourselves warm. Indeed technology has been part of our lifestyle and the ways of generating heat have increasingly provided us greater comfort in our homes, schools or businesses. Unfortunately, at a time when environmental concerns have grown serious and our need renewable resources has become urgent, not all heating technologies operate with cost-effective and environment-friendly materials. It is in this light that solar power becomes an ideal resource for generating heat.

Solar energy is easy to generate, cost-effective and renewable. All we need is a solar source--something that attracts rays of the sun into it and traps the heat generated by the process. That, basically, is how a sunroom works.

Sun rooms are constructed near homes or buildings. They make use of glass panels erected along the walls, from floor to ceiling, and usually facing the east to maximize heat absorption right at the moment the sun appears. The panels take in heat emitted by the sun, stores it and prevents it from being dissipated. Through vents and other devices, stored heat then gets distributed to where and when it is needed, such as living rooms or bedrooms during night time.

In more specific terms, the technologies that can help us tap solar power for heating even during winter include the following:

1) A Thermal Mass absorbs and stores solar energy during the day and distributes the heat at night.

2) The Trombe Wall applies heating and ventilation technologies. It combines the sunroom and thermal mass processes where air channels absorb heat between glass panels and a thermal mass. The wall stores heat from the sun, which eventually gets circulated throughout the wall via vents. The wall becomes the source of heat.

3) As with glass panels and thermal walls, a Transpired Collector works with walls that absorb solar power and heat the air as the latter enters and gets circulated through the ventilation system.

Moreover, it is refreshing to know that generated solar power does not only make us warm. It ventilates our buildings too. An example is what we call Solar Cooling. The process absorbs solar heat that fuels a steam engine which in turn runs cooling devices. Another example is called Solar Chimney. Inside the the chimney is a hollow thermal mass that heats the air and cuase heats to evaporate. The process results in better air ciculation and ventilation within the building.

There are many ways by which we can either heat or cool our homes, buildings or businesses. Unlike other heating systems that works through artificial means, heat, the technologies we briefly discussed above harness nature--heat from the sun--as source of power. They are cost-effective, ensuring excellent value-for-money investments. They also pose no threat to the environment. They respond to the need for ways of saving the heat when the sun is up so that our house will remain warm at night. In fact they do not only work for heating, they also work for cooling.