Understanding Solar Home Heating Systems

Heating System Options

In buildings, the heating system is integrated to the ventilation and air-conditioning systems. These systems regulate the room temperature during the summer and winter months. But building construction is now considering solar home heating systems to provide heat during the winter instead of the conventional electric or generator-based systems.

In countries like Russia and the northern parts of Europe, people seldom use air-conditioning because the climate is always freezing cold. The people use oil-fired heaters, gas heaters, and district heating to provide warmth inside their homes. Oil-burning systems are more practical than electricity-based heating systems.

However, these heating systems still burn oil and fossil fuels as compared to a solar system that uses renewable energy from the sun. Long term, implementing a solar home heating system is still cheaper than oil-burning systems.

The Better Heating System

Oil-fired and gas-fired heating systems may have an efficiency ranging from 80% to 97% but are not environment-friendly. Newer laws implemented in several countries led to the need for a newer and safer option for a heating system. For example, a phase-out of oil-fired heating system was implemented in Sweden.

Coal-fired heating systems are not only harmful to the environment but are also less efficient at about 60%.

Electricity-based heating systems are the conventional type used by most buildings and homes. However, these systems are less efficient because about two thirds of extracted energy from fossil fuels is lost.

The solar home heating system is definitely pro-environment because the source of heat energy is renewable and does not emit unnecessary wastes. It is cheap because solar energy is basically free. You only have to shell out a small amount for investing for the solar collectors or solar heating panels and the initial setup of the system. After that, you will immediately start with your savings resulting to a faster return of investment.

Using Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are popular in countries where the weather tends to change between warm and cold climate. The heat pumps provide the needed air-conditioning during summer and it can also be used to provide warmth during the winter season. For colder climates, geothermal heat pumps are used to extract heat from the ground.

Solar Heating

There are many heating system options to choose from but if you want to save on electricity costs, why not consider a solar home heating system? Solar heating provides convenience and comfort during winter when temperatures tend to go freezing low.

This is especially true in countries where the climate is quite cold at most times of the year. Houses and buildings use a furnace room and boiler room, respectively, to provide local heating but you can cover more areas of the house using a solar heater.

A solar home heating system is composed of row of solar panels or solar collectors that collects energy from sunlight. Pipes locked in frames circulate water that can be heated either via natural convection process or by incorporating pumps into the system. Heated water is passed to these pipes for heat transfer and is stored in a tank for other possible uses.

The major advantages of solar home heating systems over the rest are its cheap running cost, environment-friendly and rely on a renewable source of energy. There is no heating system that has all of these three features.