Solar Water Heating

You can generate hot water for use in showers, baths in your home with solar water heaters. In any climate you can have solar water heating systems and the fuel that they use is free sun light. Solar water heating (solar thermal) panels shouldn’t be confused with solar electric panels which produce electricity from sunlight.

Solar water heating systems are categorized in two different types; first one is the active one which has circulating pumps and controls another one is passive one which doesn’t. Some form of external power is required for operation in active systems. Active ones are also two types; direct circulation systems and indirect circulation systems.

Direct circulation systems work well in climates where it rarely freezes and in this system pumps circulate household water through the collectors and in to the house. Indirect one heats the water then flows into the house and mostly they are popular in climates prone to freezing temperatures. In this system plumps circulate a non freezing fluid through the collectors and the heat exchanger. When we compare the prices of passive and active solar water heating systems passive ones are less expensive than active ones but they are not as efficient as active ones.

Solar Electricity Always Better

Solar Electricity Always Better

Solar electricity is always better than other types because it is green, doesn’t release any harmful pollutants and renewable energy. Just you need to pay for initial installation and your electricity cost will be greatly reduced because sun light is free.

Photovoltaic has a long lifetime. Your system can produce more electricity than you need so you can make money from the electricity with exporting electricity back to the grid when you don’t use it. You will be paid an export tariff. And also it is possible to import electricity from the grid if you need additional power.

Green Energy

Solar electricity means generating cheap, green electricity from the sun. It is possible to create electricity with using solar panels and the sun. There are technologies that directly transform the sun’s energy into electricity and known as photovoltaic. If you know how to use photovoltaic for your business or own house you will save plenty energy and money by using Photovoltaic electric system.

All you need to know is that solar panels on your house roof or in your garden take the sunlight and produce electricity. The electricity is captured and fed into an inverter to boost low voltage direct current into high voltage alternating current electricity.

This 240 voltage current will be compatible with your household appliances. It is free electricity. Just you need to pay for photovoltaic panels. Panels are necessary because cells in panels take sunlight in and produce electricity.

PV cells come in variety of colors and shapes. You also need inverter otherwise electricity which is produced by panels is low voltage and not useful for you. You also need new electricity meter. Then you will have all the time free electricity. The stronger the sunshine the more electricity is produced but even in cloudy days you can still generate some electricity because photovoltaic cells don’t need direct sunlight to work.

Solar Electricity

The electrical power created by solar photovoltaic panels which can be used efficiently in houses, vehicles, boats and more… The location of the panels is important. More electricity is produced from the sun if the sunlight comes to the panels without any blocking. (i.e. mountains, trees or buildings).

Solar electricity may be practical and cheap for the conditions where mobile power is needed, or places frequently face with power cut. But it should be kept in mind that the solar electricity systems may be expensive parallel to the need of electricity.

We may advantage from the sun power during the year. In order to generate solar electricity, photons from sunlight are absorbed. This process is successful, even in cloudy days or during bright nights but only in few amounts. The panels may be positioned on a roof, on the ground, or on a pole.

The amount of solar electricity may change due to strength of the sunlight. In order to have constant electricity flow, solar electricity should be kept in batteries. The constant power is essential for using the solar electricity for electronically devices requiring mains electricity. Also, attention should be given not to discharge the batteries entirely or contrarily overcharge them. This may give damage to the batteries. A controller is a helpful device at this point. Another important thing is an “inverter” which takes the DC (low voltage) from the batteries and converts as AC (high voltage) for the devices requiring mains electricity.

Solar Electric Panels

Solar Electric Panels

Solar electric panels mostly produce electricity that can be used for lighting but it can also be used to heat buildings and it has to be tank of water beside.

Solar panels can be classified in two different categories as liquid and air. According to average temperature range over which they are intended to be used each of these two categories also can be sub-classified as low temperature, medium temperature, high temperature collectors.

Solar Panels

What are solar panels?

Solar panels are known as photovoltaic cells or panels as well. Solar panels actively convert sunlight to the electricity with harvesting it. The surface of the solar panel has solar cells which are arranged in grid plan. During the daylight hours these solar cells collect sunlight to convert it into electricity. Solar panels store the energy in batteries for our use and with this usable energy it is possible to meet the everyday needs for modern life. Panels allow you to either provide a hot water supply or generate electricity because there are two types of panels first one is the solar hot water panels and second one is the solar electricity panels.
Just one single panel can produce only a limited amount of power so installations have to contain several panels for enough electricity. Mostly on the roof or in sunny garden areas installation includes several solar panels, batteries, inverter and interconnection wiring for producing energy. The basic element of solar panels is pure silicon. Silicon makes an ideal platform for the transmission of electrons and solar panels are created by combining silicon with some other elements that do have negative or positive charges. Solar panels can be used on different types of buildings in all shapes and sizes because solar panels come in different shapes and sizes.

Solar Energy

What is solar energy?

Solar energy is the power from the sun and its lights up our days and also it heats the earth, us, our homes etc, it grows our food.

Everybody and everything deal with solar energy. Stored solar energy forms fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. It also means “using the sun’s light and energy to provide electricity, heat, hot water etc for homes or industry”.

Before using sun for generating power we have used it for drying food and clothes for centuries. 150 million km away Sun and also its energy is astonishingly powerful. Solar heat and light are two different categories of energy from the sun. Solar heat energy is used to heat water, air etc for businesses and homes.
Today it is possible to see solar thermal collectors in many sunny areas such as roof of the buildings, gardens without trees etc. It is also possible to convert solar energy into mechanical energy today. The energy from the sun is free and lasts for decades so many people prefer to reduce energy costs with converting free energy from the sun into electrical energy. Solar energy doesn’t require any fuel. If you like to reduce your home energy cost you need to know all about solar energy. Solar energy using is clean and it helps to protect our environment. It never pollutes our air. It works silently and doesn’t smell.

It will be right to say sun’s energy is vital for the earth and it is the future of world’s energy needs. Solar energy is the best investment available today because it guarantees a return on money that you will.

Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy

We shouldn’t forget that all the energy we use comes from the earth. Even electricity is made from earth’s resources like coal or natural gas. Natural gas and coal are fossil fuels and con not be replaced and they can cause pollution. But renewable energies can replace and doesn’t pollute the air, water and nature.

There are many different types of energies on the world which come from natural sources such as wind, sunlight, rain, water, tides and these are renewable and naturally replenished energies. Renewable energy will never run out also and they do not rely on nuclear reaction or fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal or oil.

When we compare the fossils or nuclear fuels renewable sources are much cleaner, they have nothing to pollute environment. Electricity which is generated sun, wind etc will be available for us as long as the sun shines or wind blows. Everybody applies renewable energy when drying their washing on the clothesline in the sun and wind.

Solar energy is produced by the sun’s warmth and light. It is possible to transform the sun’s energy into electricity. Wind tribunes have generated electricity in many countries for hundreds of years and wind energy is one of the world’s fastest growing energy sources. Electricity is also generated by the force of flowing water, the movement of tides and waves. Because of this on the world many rivers have been dammed to use this power. For all these renewable energy types, sun is a prime influence on natural cycles that create wind, rain, rivers etc. It will be right to say almost all renewable energy sources are really solar in origin. The sun’s energy is available every day and the sun will hang up there for a long time like it did four billion years already.

The production and use of renewable energy has grown more in recent years as a result of higher prices for natural gas and oil and it is expected to continue to grow over the next 30 years.

Solar Power

Solar Power

Solar power is energy which comes from the sun and the conversion of sunlight into electricity or solar energy. It is possible to say solar power is the basis for all life on earth and it is directly from the sun. Sun’s degree at the core is over one million Celsius. If we could use the core’s energy we would have enough energy to cover all our needs 10.000 times over. Even the tiny percentage of sun power and light that touches the earth is plenty enough to meet the energy and power needs of the all human population. Sun has produced power for billions of years.

During 5000 years, sun’s power is being used. In ancient times sun power was used to start the fire or dry the clay for buildings etc. During history people built homes carefully and they considered position of the buildings, in the summer time home would be shaded from the sun but in winter it would be heated by the sun. The most important thing is learning how to collect sun’s power efficiently. Sun’s power is completely inexhaustible fuel source and completely free. Sun light and power is provided regardless of whether we use it or not. In 1954 sun power was began to use for the electricity. Today we have the technology to harvest this solar power.

It is a great idea to use sun’s power to provide much needed energy at an affordable price. You can also use solar power in your home because it is very simple. Solar power can be used for heating systems such as heating pool, heating water, central heating for green houses, inside homes etc or for electricity. If you have a reasonable amount of sun in the area that you live just you need a grid tie system on top of your roof to collect solar power. You can also sell power back to electric company if you generate more than you need.

Renewable energy needs are increasing everyday so we will have more items which are solar powered in future. Even today solar power is used for lots of things. Many institutions and businesses are researching new ways to harness solar power and they try to make its use more effective and practical. We should use the solar power to make a clean and pollution free world for us and our children.

Solar Collectors

Solar Collectors

Solar collectors are categorized in three different types; first one is flat plate collector, second one is integral collector storage systems and the third one is evacuated cube solar collectors. Evacuated cube solar collectors have evacuated tubes each with a liquid filled copper conductor inside. In flat plate collectors before water returning to the cylinder it passes through the whole plate where it is heated.

Evacuated tube collectors are generally more expensive and efficient. In the world the most widely used kind of collector for domestic solar water heating is flat plate collector. These durable and effective collectors are the standard to which all other kinds of collectors are compared. An integral collector storage unit has the solar hot water storage tank as the solar absorber. The tank is painted black or coated with a selective surface and it is mounted in an insulated box with glazing on one side.

The sun is warming the water inside the tank. These types of collectors are mostly used around the world in climates that never experience freezing conditions and they work great. Your roof has to be strong enough to hold tank’s weight because these collectors are very heavy. There are also pool collectors and concentrating collectors.

The best place to store collectors is inside a building. If they are well covered collectors can be stored outside. Collectors can get very hot if they have direct sun and can cause burns when you touch with bare hands especially if they are evacuated tube collectors. They never should be covered with plastic because they will get too hot. You can mount your collector array either on a roof or on a rack on the ground.

Collector tilt is very important because solar collectors will perform at optimum efficiency and maximum output if directly facing the sun. You should choose a permanent mounting angle that will be best for year round performance. For a solar water heater that will be used only during the summer or that will be used year round, a tilt angle will be different. You also should look for shading from trees, chimneys or other buildings.

The best way is having the top of the array as far up the roof as possible. The amount of snow will also reduced behind the collectors with this way. There are brass unions and copper couplers for attaching collectors together. Copper couplers are harder to use than brass unions. Solar water heaters have a life span of 40 years and over.

When the system has been sized correctly it can provide %50-75 of all your hot water requirements throughout the year.