passive solar design

This is a fact sheet on solar thermal water heating from the Texas State Energy Conservation Office. It explains the different types of solar water heater systems and how they work.

Passive systems require no moving parts as compared to active systems which do. This makes them simpler to maintain but less efficient. Active systems come in both direct and indirect; direct being the more efficient but often suffering from mineral deposits called scaling. At the bottom of the fact sheet is a list of resources with further and more detailed information.

This presentation was created by the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and creating methods for sustainable development. It provides an overview of solar thermal applications as well as select case studies.

This presentation was prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Sandia National Laboratories in 2004. It covers low-cost passive solar water systems and low-cost active solar systems.

The first few slides state what the near-term, mid-term and long-term goals of the research are, as well the industry companies, universities and laboratories involved. The basic system types are explained with diagrams and pictures. It has technical barriers and performance evaluations.

This report was prepared by the US Environmental Protection Agency and explains the concept and benefit of using “active” and “passive” solar systems.

The document describes the basics of both active and passive systems and provides advice on integrating solar systems to work in conjunction with conventional water heaters.

This report was prepared in 2003 by Rob McMonagle for the Canadian Solar Industries Association.

The document describes the specific challenges that the solar industry in Canada faces and also argues against many common myths associated with solar energy. Several charts also show that Canada has more solar energy than many countries that are currently worldwide solar leaders. Several charts provide a cost/energy breakdown for various uses of solar thermal power and solar pool heating is explained in further detail.

This report was prepared by the Mayo Energy Agency in 2002.

This report was arranged by UNEP.

The document discusses the technology behind high and low temperature solar thermal systems. High temperature solar thermal systems use mirrors and other reflective surfaces to concentrate solar radiation. Low temperature solar thermal systems collect solar radiation to heat air and water for industrial applications including space heating for homes, offices and greenhouses, domestic and industrial hot water, pool heating, and desalination.

This report was put out in 2010 by Environment America Research & Police Center. The basis of this report is America’s potential and how the goal should be set to obtain 10 percent or more total energy consumption from the sun by 2030 using solar technology.

Technologies described to accomplish this include: concentrating solar power, solar water heaters, solar space heating/cooling, and passive solar design.

This document describes the North Carolina state tax credit for investing in renewable energy property and explains new tax credit provisions for taxpayers who donate to nonprofits and units of state and local government to enable the tax exempt-entity to acquire renewable energy property. It includes definitions of all the terminology mentioned in the document, as well as charts with credit limits for all solar equipment. For solar thermal technology, it defines eligible and ineligible expenditures with requirements.

The Wisconsin Solar Tour is an annual event that allows you to tour sites that display solar electric, wind electric, solar domestic hot water, solar space heating, passive solar design, geothermal, and other renewable energy technology.

The sites are lived in and operated by ordinary people of Wisconsin and is part of the National Solar Tour, coordinated by the American Solar Energy Society.

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