Sun is a gift of nature that brightens our lives and provides heat to the earth. Heat as is a great form of energy so it should be utilized in its fullest in the present era of energy outages. Sun is a free source of heat energy and this heat energy from the sun is specifically termed as solar energy. The use of solar energy has many benefits. Firstly, it is inexpensive as compared to other forms of energy. Secondly, to utilize solar energy only initial setup costs are incurred and once it is set there are no additional operational costs.
The use of solar energy as a solar space heater is increasing over the years. Solar space heating can be active or passive in nature. Passive solar space heaters are simpler in nature than active solar space heaters. The solar space heaters are regarded as passive when the design of the house, building etc. is manipulated or adjusted to take advantage of the solar energy at the time of its construction.
Examples of the passive heating design would be large windows in the south facing walls to take maximum advantage of the sun heat or the use of heat storing materials in the walls that follow the principle of diffusion (i.e. things tend to move from higher concentration to lower concentration). These materials save heat and release it when inside temperature becomes cold.
Active solar space heaters are more complex and formal then the passive ones. They generally use air or water as their major components and utilizes the solar energy to heat air or water which is then used to warm the inside temperature of houses through the use of fans and pumps etc. A combination of the active and passive solar space heaters is best to achieve a comfortable inside environment.
The use of the roof as a solar space heater is a very effective and inexpensive approach. For roof space heating HRV system is the best available systems to use. This is an intelligent system and utilizes the sunlight that is collected by the rooftop of the house. This system filters the hot air below the roof due to sunlight to make it free of any bacteria; germs etc. and then distribute this hot air evenly throughout the home.
Solectair is another similar invention by Kim Dartnall that can be used for roof space heating. Solectair is an automatic system. It uses sensors to detect inside temperature of a house and the temperature at the rooftop. If the temperature inside the house is cooler it is automatically turned-on to reach to a more comfortable warm temperature. This system also offers heat storing. It stores the heat during the sunlight hours and then continue disseminating this heat hour after; if required. There are also several other similar systems available.
So, using roof as a solar space heater can reduce if not completely eliminate the utilization of electric heaters which are very costly and gas heaters which are very dangerous to use and a cause of hundreds of lives lost. So using solar energy has advantages over conventional heating systems it is inexpensive, is safer and the solar energy is easily available in most parts of the world.
The use of solar energy as a solar space heater is increasing over the years. So its best to add this economic feature to our home as well.
