Just left a solar cooker info site and am wondering if reflectors could be installed to heat a home by the same principal? One might adjust reflectors to adjust heating. Just a thought. Has anyone explored this idea already? If so, what were the results?

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999

Answers

This idea works and is quite feasible. In Canada they have built a number of office buildings with no boilers. They had many problems however, in the building codes, not in the principal. It works quite well.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 1999

Do a search on "solar pond" and "geothermal" too. A quarter acre (100' x 100') solar pond will generate between ten and twenty kilowatts. Plenty for a small homestead.

Additionally if you bring a bit of landscaping to the project and have ten to twenty 10' x 100' "ponds" with 15' to 20' of land in between, the solar ponds will heat the surrounding ground, the raised land bars will use the sun more efficiently and they will make great vegetable and flower gardens.

The Mayans used raised gardens to extend the growing season centuries ago.

If you've got the land, using a combination of these techniques can give you a beautiful garden and "free" energy.

--aj

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

Ann- The practical implementation of the principal for space heating is generally referred to as "passive solar" as opposed to "active solar" which requires energy consuming pumps or blowers to operate. Passive is more like the solar oven, requires some sort of heat storage device (a Trombe wall, for example) and may need daily manipulation of vents, etc.

Reflector schemes (if used) generally involve a flat horizontal surface at ground level to reflect sunlight onto the south facing storage mass. A quick search for "trombe wall" yielded some starting places for further investigation: http://www.jademountain.com/Trombe.html http://www.greenbuilder.com/Sourcebook/PassSolGuide1-2.htm

Schemes can be simple or complicated - good luck if you try it.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

Ann,

There's roughly 1000 watts of energy in a square meter of bright sunshine. Some estimates range as high as 1,200 watts.

Efficiently capturing and using that energy is the challange. About a kilowatt per square yard is a lot of energy. Solar water heaters, solar cookers, solar homes, and sun dried tomatoes all make use of this free energy.

In the early 1920's, before natural gas was discovered near Long Beach, very many homes in Pasadena had solar water heaters. The natural gas company ran the pipes to the homes but left off the meter. They charged a flat monthly fee to low to turn down. Later, after the solar panels had been removed the gas companies came up with the gas meter.

In the late fifties, early sixties when nuclear power was in it's infancy the industry made claims of producing power too cheap to meter.

Solar power is very much for real, very useable right now. Solar water heaters can have payback periods of two to three years.

Photovoltaic cells, (solar electric producers), are rather expensive and inefficient but getting better.

I expect more good news to come out of that aren

-- Anonymous, August 23, 1999

If you are thinking of retrofitting an existing home, another idea is windowboxes. If you can put your hands on a copy of "The Integral Urban House" they have plans. Basic idea is to build window boxes slanted to face the winter sun with a cold inlet at the bottom and a hot outlet at the top to circulate sun-warmed air back into your house. Greenhouses on the south side on the house can serve for both plant growth and house warming. Add black-painted drums of water and grow fish. On the solar box cooker site see the plans for the food dehydrator. Better yet, see Anita Evangelista's book on "How to Live Without Electricity.. and like it"

-- Anonymous, August 24, 1999

Another excellent sourcebook is *Solviva* by Anna Edey, Trailblazer Press, Martha's Vineyard, MA. It provides excellent details on solar heating using what's called a Morse solar heater. The simplicity of it is remarkable. And this is not just theory. Edey has built her own home and greenhouse using these heaters and uses NO elctricity or other fuel for heat, even in the dead of New England winter.

-- Anonymous, August 24, 1999