Black hat

When someone mentions solar power the majority of us think about the dark blue panels we have seen on the top of buildings which we know supply electricity to either businesses or homes.  This is due to the fact that this is a very popular example of solar power.  There are, however, other ways to make the most of energy from the sun and solar heating is one of them the origins of which go a lot further back than the method of photovoltaic arrays. 

In fact, the use of sunlight to heat water in tanks goes back centuries.  The ancient greeks for example used mirrors and lenses albeit a crude version of the tools, to warm water up and in the 1920′s some areas had solar systems operating to heat water supplies for homes. 

These days such applications have taken on the look of high technology. 

A popular form of solar power to heat water is the use of what is known as collector panels, usually found on rooftops.  They look similar to large, thin and double paneled windows and contain water mixed with various types of salt.  They don’t use layered silicon wafers in order to generate electricity like the photovoltaic modules do.  The greenhouse effect is used to heat the water as it moves through a series of tubes, pipes and channels at the premises where it is installed. 

As most of us are aware from global warming discussions, the greenhouse effect comes into being when light comes into a transparent medium and not all of the energy captured is allowed to escape.  This occurs to a high degree with glass due to the fact that it permits certain wavelengths of the light spectrum like infrared for example, to gain entry more efficiently than the way it lets the energy out again, thus accruing a net gain of energy on the inside. 

Hot water has its obvious uses such as showering, washing the pots and so on and so forth and nothing further is needed, simply the availability of the water.  This is done by storing the water in the same way as you would in a regular water heater.

Of course, in a regular hot water system, the unit also heats the water as well as storing it.  Yet with a solar powered water heating system there is no need for this as the water entering the tank is usually in the region of 95F-150F (35C-66C).  The tank the water is stored in becomes a kind of thermos as it is double lined and produced from well insulated materials which keep the heat and very little is allowed to dissipate through the walls of the tank. 

You will find that the temperature range of this kind of system is more than adequate as far as bathing, washing clothes and other household applications are concerned.   The only problems are making sure there is enough sunlight to generate sufficient heat and that a bare minimum is lost through the walls of the tank. 

Costs can be as high as $50,000 or more and the usefulness of the system may be limited due to local climate conditions.  That said, taking into account the cost of electricity and gas, you are likely to find that your business or home solar water heating system will more or less pay for itself over a period of around ten years.