Green Homes
You are here
Heating with a Wood Furnace
There are both indoor and outdoor wood boilers and furnaces. Outdoor boilers are really big wood stoves with a tank of antifreeze solution or water surrounding them. The burning wood emits heat to the fluid, giving hot water and energy to warm the house. The boiler temperature is regulated by a home control system. Most include an alarm for re-stocking. Furnaces provide warm air; they come as indoor units only.
What is Active Solar Heating?
A simple concept for solar heating is the use of cladding material on south-, west- or east-facing walls. Small gaps enable air to flow in from outside. In the daytime, air passes across the solar panels as well as along their inner surfaces, absorbing the sun's rays to warm the air, causing it to rise. This hot air is drawn into the ventilation system of the building, reducing the load on the heating system. On hot days, such systems can heat air by as much as 30-50°F (17-28°C), depending on the rate of flow.
Solar Energy Heating and Cooling
When fuel prices rise, everyone goes on the alert. No one was concerned when oil prices were low, using it freely for their cars and homes even though early '70s automobiles were comparable in size with tanker ships that carry Saudi Arabian crude to North America! Home design and construction were carried out with little consideration for energy efficiency or fuel consumption.
What is Passive Solar Heating ?
Solar energy is free, renewable and non-polluting, so why isn't it used everywhere today? Most people have the same implementation questions: Do you have to change your lifestyle with a passive solar system? Are there concerns with its variability and is it worthwhile? Are you better off going with a traditional heating system? Solar-based living does not necessarily mean a house full of glass and complicated electronics. There are some simple guidelines that will enable your home to enjoy the sun's energy to the fullest.
Solar Water Heating
Most people are aware of using solar heating for hot water supply in the home. This is because about one third of our home energy bill goes towards hot water heating, as Florida State's electrical utility companies confirm. It is the third highest cost, following heating and cooling.
Solar Hot Water Systems
A solar water heater can operate together with your current electric or fossil-fuel water heater to supply a portion of the home's total hot water heating requirement. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutants and the cost of your water heating.
Solar Hot Water System Design
You can find plenty of water heating systems using solar energy today, including home-built designs that are simple but effective, like the batch heater. This design has no outer jacket or insulation blanket but is painted black and placed in an insulated plywood box. There is a plastic or glass glazing covering the assembly, which is angled to solar south. Pressurized domestic water goes into the tank’s bottom and heated water comes out from the top to your home’s hot water heater.
Pages
