Solar Air Heat Basics

Solar energy technologies fall into one of two primary categories:  solar electricity and solar heat.  Solar heat was first deployed in the US in the 19th century and is a tried and tested method of delivering heat.

Solar Air Heat is a technology used primarily for direct supplemental space heating.   Functioning in a similar manner as a conventional forced air furnace, systems provide heat by re-circulating conditioned building air through solar collectors.  Simple to operate with few moving parts, solar air heat is a vertically mounted technology that re-circulates air to and from the building through the collector(s) using conventional, off-the-shelf, HVAC controls, sizing methods and air distribution and handling equipment..  Simple controls activate the fan when the home is calling for heat and there is heat to harvest.  Check valves prevent reverse thermo-siphoning and uncalled-for heat.

Solar air heat is among the most efficient and cost competitive solar technologies in northern latitudes.  The following table illustrates the fact that per unit energy, solar air heat is more cost competitive to the two solar technologies that receive the bulk of the public’s attention.