by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
Solar power is one of the most misunderstood technologies available for those that want to go green. There are actually two types of solar generated power: solar electric and solar thermal. Of the two, solar thermal is the more practical application. Solar thermal, unlike solar electric, doesn’t work by converting solar energy into electricity. Instead, as the name implies, the energy is stored as heat, which is then used to heat water, pools and homes. When you use solar thermal, you aren’t actually using any electricity, which means there isn’t energy loss during conversion. It’s energy stored in its most basic form: heat. Here in Florida there are quite a few companies that take advantage of the Florida sunshine, mostly in the area of solar thermal.
One such company, operating here in Jacksonville is Energy Labs, a research company devoted to developing different ways to harness solar thermal energy.
Company head, Michael Newman, explains what solar energy can do as far as energy is concerned: “Solar, at best, is an energy consumption mitigation technology. I don’t know of anybody that truly runs their home, business, their country…on solar energy completely. So it’s a way for us to save natural resources and use renewable energy while it’s there.”
With a good solar water heater, says Newman, “most people can get 80% savings, in other words they can save 80% of the energy that it takes to heat water, on an annual basis.” You might invest as little as $3,000 in a solar thermal water heater, but the investment return makes it worthwhile. First, JEA and the state offer various tax credits to offset the cost. Reduced heating bills are a definite plus. Also, when it comes time to sell your home, solar thermal can be a selling point and value booster, especially when it’s used as a way to heat a swimming pool. The cost of a heated swimming pool can be enormous when using standard electricity. Solar thermal is the way to go if you want a heated pool in Florida. If you’re interested in solar thermal energy, call Energy Labs at (904) 786-6600.
The majority of the work at Energy Labs involves R & D to make solar thermal energy more efficient or to find new applications for the technology.
“As a result of research we come up with products,” says Newman “We will either build those products or do a technology transfer.” One such technology transfer was the Solar Hot Pot Cooker, developed by the team at Solar Energy and then sold to Mexico.
“It was really done in an effort to help the people that are starving. There are places in the world where they can’t eat because they can’t cook. The wood is all gone, there’s no coal, there’s no gas, there’s nothing. And in places where the people are starving the most, they have an abundance of sunshine.”
Although energy labs sold the tech to Mexico, Americans can still get their hands on a Solar Hot Pot Cooker, through the Real Goods website at www.gaiam.com/retail/gai_shophome.asp. The cooker is a steep $120 or so, but a portion of the profits from the sales goes towards the effort of distributing the cooker to those in need, reducing deforestation and helping to combat hunger.
Learn how to make coffee, cook a whole chicken and bake bread, using nothing more than the awesome power of that shining disk in the sky. Includes 90 recipes, a history of solar cooking, how to build your own solar oven and illustrations.
If you’ve decided to build your house, you might want to consider making it eco-friendly. It can be more cost effective than retro-fitting an existing home and it certainly creates added value when you put your home on the market. Ask if your builder is LEED certified, and check out the U.S. Building Council’s website (www.usgbc.org/) on what it means for your home to be LEED certified, which is just another way of saying officially green.
Of course you’ll want to make sure that your home is well insulated in order to reduce energy costs. Small details like double paned glass and design with an eye towards cross-ventilation can drastically cut your energy costs. Instead of using standard insulation, go with recycled blue jeans or other non-toxic material.
In the kitchen, you’ll want your builders to install a gas stove; it’s more energy efficient than an electric range because the energy is burned right there and there’s no loss. Some of the energy burned at coal-electric plants is always lost as it is converted into electricity and as it travels over distance.
In the bathroom and the kitchen you can also get countertops made from recycled material, like colorful crushed glass or compressed, recycled paper. Use easily renewable material such as bamboo for flooring. For tips on what materials you’ll want to use, go to the fabulous website greenhomeguide.com.
Your water heater should, of course, run on solar thermal energy. Depending on the size of the thermal tank you install, you could supplement heating your home as well. Most other alternate energy resources aren’t incredibly practical right now, but you can save the planet and save on your energy bill by building green to begin with. Building a home green can raise your building costs by 5% or more, but you can cut down on your heating by about 40% by employing green building solutions.
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