Individually Engineered Energy Solutions for Residential, Commercial and Industrial Applications.
TYPES OF SOLAR ENERGY UTILISATION
ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE
There are two main ways of utilizing solar energy, active and passive.
Designing a home in such a way that is gains maximum sunlight during winter and minimum sunlight during summer is an example of passive solar design. There are no moving parts to achieve the effective use of the sun's energy.
Active solar systems rely on the movement of electricity or a heating fluid to transfer the energy from one place to another. The sun's energy is "actively" captured and stored or circulated as required. This may be with the use of pumps or batteries for example.
ELECTRICITY vs. HEAT
Active solar systems are again divided into Photovoltaic (electricity) and Solar Thermal (heat).
Photovoltaic solar panels convert sunlight directly into electricity. They are typically no more than 14% efficient and the technology is still very expensive per unit of energy produced. This is mainly useful for running low power consuming devices. It is not suitable for heating applications because water and space heating requires large amounts of energy (compared to lighting say).
Solar Thermal panels are up to 70% efficient. The technology is simple and relatively cheap per unit of energy output compared to photovoltaic panels. Solar thermal panels absorb heat from the sun and transfer that heat to water or air which runs through the collectors. For heating purposes this type of solar system is ideal.