Storing Solar Energy

Solar energy has many great qualities but it also has some draw backs. The amount of energy from the sun is not always constant. When there is cloud cover or night time the amount of solar energy available is diminished greatly if not completely. This has a great impact on the amount of solar heating your system can produce. Another problem is how to store the heat for use when there is only small amounts of solar energy available.

The way that passive solar heat can be stored depends on the type of solar panels that are being used. The system that was described yesterday in my blog would use a different storage system than say a photovoltaic or a liquid system.

The solar panel that I talked about yesterday would use thermal mass to store the solar heat that has been collected. Thermal mass is material that can absorb the heat, store it, and then slowly release it when the amount of solar energy is reduced. Materials such as brick walls, concrete slabs, and tile floors are examples of thermal mass.Thermal mass transfers the heat through a solid material, or from one material to another where their surfaces are touching. Heat is conducted more easily through a solid material than through layers of material.

Another type of solar eneregy panel uses liquid instead of air to collect the heat  from the sun. This type of solar energy system can be used to heat water and or the house. The heat energy is usually stored in a large insulated water tank or a pool and then used later for heating when the solar energy has diminished.

The solar photovoltiac collectors produce electricity. There are basicically  two ways that these solar  collectors can store their energy.

•         Battery Banks
•         Grid Inter-Tie

If the house is not tied to the electrical grid then the only option would be to have a battery bank to store the excess electricity. Stand-alone solar photovoltiac systems are designed to operate independently from the grid and to provide all of the electricity you need for your home.

Stand Alone PV System Diagram

 The Vulcan Business Development Society in Vulcan Alberta Canada has solar photovoltiac panels on their roof.

 These solar panels produce enough electrical energy to provide all their requirements and any excess electricity is then outputed to the electrical grid. Their web site that gives live output as to what their solar photovoltiac system is producing for power is:

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/hDWG48007

As you can see just getting the energy from the solar panels whether it is heat or electricity is not the only thing that has to be addressed when a person decides that they are going to set up a solar energy system.

There are many new and inovative systems coming on to the market daily. Some of these systems are as simple as a solar powered attic fan that reduces energy costs, does not require any electrical wiring and there is no operating cost. Attic fans help to reduce the heat in the house during te hot summer months. Small solar panels are available to charge your cel phone and ipad. The owners of motor homes are installing solar photovoltaic panels on their roofs to keep their coach batteries charged. Now there are solar powered kits for children available in many stores and hobby shops. The use of solar energy is getting more and more comon every day.

Solar powered vehicles have yearly competition to see how far they can travel and how fast they can travel  Universities and colleges from all over the world compete in these national and international competitions .

Solar is definetly an energy source that should be addressed in todays alternative energy revolution.Today with the help of the internet everyone can become educated in what solar can do to reduce the amount of our increasing utility bills.

I hope that this blog will get you thinking about alternative energy systems.