Cut Heating Costs By Using Indirect Gain In Your Home Design
By Richard Chapo
Heating costs are pretty high these days and only expected to get higher in the future as fossil fuels become more scarce. Incorporate indirect gain in your home design and you will save a bundle.
Indirect gain is a form of solar energy heating. Now, don t panic. When most people mention solar power, the idea of large, unattractive solar panels immediately pops into your mind. Indirect gain does not involve solar panels. Instead, it uses the natural power of the sun to create heat for your home. Yes, even in winter.
The energy in sunlight is obscenely powerful. On a clear day, there is enough energy in one square meter of sunlight to produce 1 kilowatt of power. So, why doesn t solar power take off as a renewable energy platform? We cannot yet build solar cells that are efficient enough to harness the energy. Most solar cells in panels only convert about 10 percent of the energy in the sunlight hitting them. This is why the panels have to be so big to generate enough electricity.
With indirect gain, you don t have to worry about solar panels or even efficiency. Indirect gain refers to the heating of one area of a home and then circulating that heat to the rest of the home. A classic example is a Trombe Wall, but in this case we are going to talk about a sun room.
A sun room is simply a room built on the south facing wall of your home. The outer walls and roof are glass. The floor and internal wall is made of a material that absorbs heat from the sun. The floor can be brick, for instance. The wall can be painted a dark color. It really doesn t matter so long as the sun heats it up. During the day, the sun will get your sun room roasting. This is true even in winter if you insulate well. So, how do you get all of this hot air into the rest of the home? I m glad you asked!
To move the hot air into the rest of your home, you need to install a simple, but unique vent system. A set of vents should be placed as high as possible and as low as possible on the interior wall of your sun room. The vents should lead to an interior space of your home with as short a distance being used as possible. Remember, hot air rises and we are going to use this fact to our advantage.
When you need heat in the home, you can open both sets of vents - bottom and top.
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So, how effective can indirect gain be when it comes to heating your home? It can cut your costs by about 60 percent. Over the life of your home, that is a healthy chunk of change.
Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - free solar power articles.
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