#solar heating

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

On the rise: my collection of vintage sun imagery.

[greenfutures]

A tour of a 1950s house in Montreal, retrofitted and expanded to the super-efficient Passive Home standard. 

This house stays warm while using only a tiny amount of electricity, even in Montreal winters which often go below -30ºC (-22ºF). 

Combines a south-facing side for solar gain in winter with shades to block the sun when at higher angles in summer; smaller, super-insulated windows on the north side to reduce heat loss; extra external insulation with packed cellulose; airtight membranes; a 4000-gallon underground rainwater cistern for the garden; greywater filtration and reuse for flushing toilets; ground loop geothermal pipes for heating and cooling the fresh air via the intake; and an incredibly tiny 3000-watt heater that heats the whole house. 

In addition, they used low-VOC paints and plywood to ensure the home was free of any toxic fumes from offgassing.

[anarchopuppy]

Large Area Solar Heating System

Heating with a sun collector costs nothing and contaminates nothing. In this article I propose a solar heating system consisting of a large solar collector, suitable for the heating of a house; and a heat store, capable to bridge a week of cloudy weather. Both are made from simple materials.

Read more...

[xoverit]

Stills from the Lahti Housing Fair, Finland. (1978)

[corvidaecreek]

This photo was taken in my shop at noon on the winter solstice. When I built this cabin 14 years ago, I calculated the roof overhang so that the sun would have no obstruction on the winter solstice, and also not shine directly at all through the window on the summer solstice. Guess it worked.

[scifi2feature]

[nemfrog]

The solar house of 1949. Popular Science. March 1949. Cover art.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Enhanced Energy Storage Capacity of Graphene Supercapacitors via Solar Heating

Prof. WANG Zhenyang’s research group from Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has enhanced the energy storage capacity of graphene supercapacitors via solar heating.

Related research results were published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

In low temperature environments, the hindered diffusion of electrolyte ions seriously restricts the electrochemical performance of supercapacitors. The electrode materials with solar-thermal properties are expected to provide a new strategy to solve this problem. However, it remains a challenge to develop electrode materials with both excellent solar-thermal properties and high energy storage capacity.

In this research, researchers prepared graphene films with three-dimensional porous structures via laser-induction technology. They composited the Polypyrrole uniformly composited into the graphene network by pulse electrodeposition. Graphene/polypyrrole composite electrodes were obtained and a new type of solar-thermally enhanced supercapacitor was thus constructed.

Read more.