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Encyclopedia > Solar heating

Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide process, space or water heating. See also Solar thermal energy. The heating of water is covered in solar hot water. Solar heating design is divided into two groups: The Solar Two 10 MW solar power facility, showing the power tower (left) surrounded by the sun-tracking mirrors. ... Space heating is the heating of a space, usually enclosed, such as a house or room. ... A trio of propane water heaters. ... Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for practical applications from solar heating to electrical power generation. ... Solar hot water refers to water heated by solar energy. ...

  • Passive solar heating does not require electrical or mechanical equipment, and may rely on the design and structure of the house to collect, store and distribute heat throughout the building (passive solar building design).

Contents

Active solar is a term which refers to the use of solar energy to actively convert the energy in sunlight into other forms. ... This article is about a mechanical device. ... Air redirects here. ... For other uses, see Liquid (disambiguation). ... A laundromat in California with solar collectors on the roof. ... Solar panels are used in passive and active solar hot water systems Passive solar technologies convert sunlight into usable heat, cause air-movement for ventilation or cooling, or store heat for future use, without the assistance of other energy sources. ... Passive solar buildings aim to maintain interior thermal comfort throughout the suns daily and annual cycles whilst reducing the requirement for active heating and cooling systems. ...

Other Uses

Solar heating also refers to the heating of any objects, including buildings, cars, through solar radiation. Solar heating depends on the solar radiation, surface area, surface reflectance, surface emissivity, ambient temperature, and thermal convection from wind. With most all objects on Earth, solar heating reaches a state of temperature equilibrium as the heat imparted by the sun is offset by the heat given off through reflection, radiation, and convection. White objects stay dramatically cooler than other objects because the most important variables are characteristics of the surface, reflectance, emissivity, convection and surface area. Silvery objects get hot even though they are excellent reflectors because they are very poor in heat emission. Human skin, and many other living surfaces, like tree leaves, have near perfect emissivity (~1.0), and so stay pretty cool. A perfect sunscreen is a dye that perfectly absorbs, with high emissivity, or perfectly reflects, ultraviolet and infrared while being transparent in visible light. Solar irradiance spectrum at top of atmosphere. ... Area is the measure of how much exposed area any two dimensional object has. ... In optics, reflectivity is the reflectance (the ratio of reflected power to incident power, generally expressed in decibels or percentage) at the surface of a material so thick that the reflectance does not change with increasing thickness; , the intrinsic reflectance of the surface, irrespective of other parameters such as the... The emissivity of a material (usually written ) is the ratio of energy radiated by the material to energy radiated by a black body at the same temperature. ... For other uses, see Room temperature (disambiguation). ... Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of currents within fluids (i. ... The reflection of a bridge in Indianapolis, Indianas Central Canal. ... For other uses, see Radiation (disambiguation). ... This article is about the color. ... This article is about the chemical element. ... Sunscreen (also known as sunblock, suntan lotion) is a lotion, spray or other topical product that is intended to protect the skin from the suns ultraviolet (UV) radiation. ... Look up dye in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Ultraviolet (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Infrared (disambiguation). ... Visible light redirects here. ...


It is worth noting that it is impossible for any material to be a good absorber of a given frequency and at the same time a poor emitter of the same frequency ( or the other way around). The difference in absorption and emission arises because the radiation emitted by a relatively cold object like a human, has much lower frequency than the radiation emitted by a hot object like the sun. Materials which have high emissivity for low frequencies but high absorption at higher frequencies will therefore stay much cooler than materials which have high absorption of high frequencies and low emission of low frequencies. Solar heating is also good for the environment and saves people a lot of money.


Worldwide

Solar Hot Water Installed Capacity 2005[1]
Country million m2 GWth
China 79.3 55.5
EU 16.0 11.2
Turkey 8.1 5.7
Japan 7.2 5.0
Israel 4.7 3.3
Brazil 2.3 1.6
United States 2.3 1.6
Australia 1.7 1.2
India 1.5 1.1
World 125 88

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: European Union The European Union On-Line Official EU website, europa. ...

Solar heating in Europe

Solar heating systems with glazed collectors* (kWth)[2]
Total (2006) Added in 2006 Added in 2005 Added in 2004
Germany 5 637 800 1 050 000 665 000 525 000
Greece 2 301 040 168 000 154 350 150 500
Austria 1 828 139 204 868 163 429 127 816
Italy 598 661 130 200 88 941 68 417
Spain 491 516 122 500 74 760 63 000
France 430 920 154 000 85 050 36 400
Cyprus 392 140 42 000 35 000 21 000
Switzerland 310 484 36 304 27 392 21 812
Denmark 253 596 17 710 14 875 14 000
Netherlands 222 909 10 280 14 174 18 410
UK 175 644 37 800 19 600 17 500
Sweden 165 850 19 977 15 835 14 041
Portugal 126 665 14 000 11 200 7 000
Poland 117 264 28 980 19 390 20 230
Slovenia 76 510 4 830 3 360 1 260
Czech Republic 74 711 15 421 10 885 8 575
Belgium 72 883 24 945 14 164 10 290
Slovakia 50 925 5 950 5 250 3 850
Romania 48 370 280 280 280
Bulgaria 17 570 1 540 1 400 1 260
Malta 16 702 3 150 2 800 2 951
Finland 11 545 2 380 1 668 1 141
Luxembourg 11 130 1 750 1 330 1 190
Ireland 11 053 3 500 2 450 1 400
Hungary 4 375 700 700 1 050
Latvia 2 695 840 700 350
Lithuania 1 925 420 350 350
Estonia 784 210 175 175
Total (GWth) 13.45 2.10 1.43 1.14
* The relation between collector area and capacity is 1 m2 = 0.7 kWthermal

See also

energy Portal

Image File history File links Portal. ... Solar gain (also known as solar heat gain or passive solar gain) refers to the increase in temperature in a space, object or structure that results from solar radiation. ... A solar combisystem is a solar heating system that provides both space heating and hot water from a common array of solar thermal collectors, normally linked to an auxiliary non-solar heat source. ... solar oven A solar oven or solar furnace is a way of harnessing the suns power to cook food. ... Renewable energy effectively utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished. ... // Renewable heat is an application of renewable energy, namely the generation of heat from renewable sources. ... A seasonal thermal store (also known as a seasonal heat store or inter-seasonal thermal store) is a store designed to retain heat deposited during the hot summer months for use during colder winter weather. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Timeline of photovoltaics. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Wood-pellet heating. ...

References

  1. ^ 2005: Record year for investments in renewable energy REN21: Renewables Global Status Report 2006 Update, 18.7.2006, p. 21.
  2. ^ Solar Thermal Markets in Europe, Trends and market statistics 2006 European Solar Thermal Industry Federation ESTIF, June 2007, p. 4.

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Passive Solar Heating and Cooling (8396 words)
Heat is transferred through ducts or pipes by natural convection to a storage area - comprised of a bin (for air) or a tank (for liquid), where the collected cooler air or water is displaced and forced back to the collector (Fig.
Heat transfer can occur by natural convection if the building is terraced up a slope, or by use of a fan, which would transfer heat to a rock bed located in a crawl space under the floor of the structure (Fig.
Heat from the greenhouse should be directed over the rock bed and a means of returning cold air from the bottom of the rock bed to the greenhouse should be provided.
Your Home Technical Manual - 1.4 Passive Solar Heating - Part 1 (1625 words)
Heat is re-radiated and distributed to where it is needed.
Heat is gained when short wave radiation passes through glass, where it is absorbed by building elements and furnishings and re-radiated as longwave radiation.
Heat loss through glass (and walls) is proportional to the difference between internal and external temperatures.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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