Solar Thermal

Whether heating one’s house with solar thermal control of the air temperature or using solar powered thermal collectors as a hot water heater, collecting the heat of the sun is simpler than you might think. It certainly can save on your power bills.

When pondering just what is a solar thermal collector, your home itself can be a significant source of useable solar thermal energy. Many homes are constructed on solar slabs that accumulate heat during the day, even in the middle of the winter, and release the heat at night. These are usually best used in combination with deciduous trees that put on leaves during the summer and help you cool your home in the summer by acting to transfer the ground temperature – usually a steady 50F (10C) or so.

More advanced systems use thermal solar panels to heat water that’s then stored in insulated tanks. These solar thermal panels have been extensively used in North America since the 1970s and often are built on a complicated motorized controller that tilts them to the optimal angle throughout the day. Warmer climates rarely need this expensive modification.

Though the price is coming down, many people are interested in finding simple DIY solar thermal panel plans. For just pennies on the dollar, someone with some eime on their hands and a Dremmel tool can make a solar hot water heater with cast off parts such as an old window, black plastic bags and black rubber tubing; simply using the ability of black things to absorb solar rays (rather than reflecting them). The most effective designs create a parabolic trough and circulate the water through them.

Some solar thermal plants in particularly use superheated water to form the steam that runs the turbines. Other solar thermal electric generators use the differential between a hot and cold plate to set up a differential that can be converted into a small current. As such, solar thermal electricity is not yet common, especially compared with the success of silicon photovoltaic cells. Solar thermal generators are not yet cost-effective and wind power is more commonly used.

The most common use of solar thermal systems on an industrial scale are desalination plants. A simple solar thermal system in theory, some of these facilities, as seen in countries such as Dubai and Mexico, are massive collectors of thermal solar energy that allow entire cities to use distilled water as their sole supply.