By now, it’s clear that unless all of us do our little bit to stop further damage to the environment and control greenhouse gases; we are going to leave our descendants a pretty ghastly legacy. And, inevitably, the discussion will veer around to the subject of clean and renewable sources of energy. Solar power is something that all of us can use right now and it is clearly a major hope for the future. You only have to get into a car that has been sitting out in the hot sun to realize how much energy the sun produces.
In order to see how best we can use solar energy in Boulder Colorado homes, it is necessary to learn a little more about the different ways in which solar energy can be harnessed. For most of us the mention of solar energy immediately brings to mind the black panels that we see on rooftops. These panels are made up of photovoltaic cells that collect sunlight and turn it into electrical energy. They are expensive to install and, besides, there are far more cost-effective ways to use sunlight.
The two major techniques in using solar energy are called active and passive solar energy and we shall see how each one works.
Passive solar energy: passive solar energy, as the name suggests, uses the heat and light of the sun without the need for any form of infrastructure such as collectors or batteries. There are many ways in which it can be used for useful purposes. For instance, many buildings are being designed and built these days to use passive solar energy.
-Generally, the south side of a building will get the maximum sun so these buildings incorporate large windows on the south side and use materials for floors and the walls that can retain heat. Two other common features in modern buildings are:
-the inclusion of a sunspace. The sunspace, normally attached to the south end of the building, works exactly like a greenhouse. The sun passing through the glazing warms the air which is then circulated through the building.
-Trombe walls. These are thick walls on the south side of the building that are painted black and made of materials that absorb heat. Glass in front of the wall helps to retain the heat.
There are also passive solar thermal systems that are available for heating water.
Active solar energy: apart from the expensive PV panels that we talked about earlier, there are active solar thermal systems that are available for heating water. In a closed system, an antifreeze type of liquid flows through a solar collector and gathers heat from the sun. This heat is then exchanged into the water that you want to heat. In an open system, there is no liquid or heat exchanger and the water to be heated flows directly through the solar collector and is then pumped into a storage tank. Similar systems can be used to generate space heating which is then circulated through the house with the use of fans.
Many people in Cherry Hills CO and Conifer Colorado, are going green and making good use of solar energy.
