SOLAR THERMAL AND RADIANT HEATING

摘要

There are two prominent ways of collecting energy from the sun for use in buildings. Solar electric, on one hand, refers to the process of converting the sun's energy directly into electricity. The other, solar thermal, refers to collecting the sun's energy and converting it directly to heat energy by heatingrna thermal mass such as concrete or water. Since water is inexpensive, easily transportable and can store a significant amount of heat energy, it is the most prevalent media. Solar thermal and radiant heat provide the greatest opportunity to reduce energy bills for homes in cooler climates wherernsunshine is plentiful. Solar thermal matched with a radiant heat system designed for low operating temperatures will provide six times the energy collection at half the cost of solar electric (PV, photovoltaic) per square foot of collector area. This gives solar thermal the opportunity to be the primary and most affordable source of solar energy in the world with present technology.