At the moment, solar powered water heating is pretty efficient, but I don't think the technology is advanced enough to offer reliable heating solutions. What you can do in the meantime is make use of the sun itself to help to keep your house warm. Have windows and doors open when it's sunny - it can make several degrees difference to the ambient temperature of the house, even in winter. That may mean the difference between having to turn the heating on, and being comfortable with an extra cardigan.
In my country, veeeeeeery few people even use sun energy for electricity (through sun panels). I've never heard of anyone using it to stay warm.
Solar Power is very effective if you have it installed correctly. We would love to have solar installed, but it's upwards of $15000 to do so, and plus we'd have to build a spare room to house all of the batteries!
Even without installing solar panels, opening the curtains and letting the sunshine in can help to heat your home. We do this here in the winter because it does get pretty cold where we live. Doing this really does help to heat up your home during the daytime. In the summer, we also close the curtains to the sunlight to help keep the house cooler.
Solar power is the energy of the future. We have a lot of initiatives in order to get as many homes solar and wind powered by the year 2015 for the latest. It is a clean and sustainable way of generating electricity and there are ways of making your own panels...takes time but is possible. I met someone who lives in New Zealand as far back as 2002...and he had built his entire home on clean energy with solar energy being his chief form of power (as well as wind turbines). I think it is the way to go. Much cleaner than thoughtless burning of fossil fuels etc... As for HEATING, you can make your own solar heaters very easily. There are cool instructions online.
Solar energy can be harnessed to heat water and generate electricity. The solar collectors not only capture the rays of the sun for clear days, the existing diffuse radiation on cloudy days is also exploited (but at a lower yield than in favorable circumstances). During periods of adverse weather, the store is responsible for maintaining the constant temperature water with little loss of temperature occur. I think solar energy is a good alternative, and has a great future ahead. I think it's one of the most popular alternative energy sources, and a good home setup, you can take perfectly.
Some of you said there are ways to construct a solar panel. Can you give some website which describes how to ?
For what it's worth. We have a place by us that has a model home that was built "off the grid". It used solar panels to get electricity. I was talking to the guy and he said that the solar panels are reeeeeeealy expensive. He said that before anything, you would need to super insulate your house. That is cheaper and more effective.
The houses in my street are being converted to solar energy for heating water, I am not sure what else is available as I know the technology doesn't cover all utility needs.
There were some solar companies which were installing solar systems in homes for free, and entering into an agreement with the homeowners utitilty company, to share in the energy cost recoup.
After the last storm that hit the East coast that had us without power for 4 days I think every house should have a backup system to power the lights and refrigerator. During the winter we open the cutains so that the sun can heat up the house.
Where I live sun energy would be ideal. It rarely ever rains here and the sun is out all the time. I've been throwing around the idea to get some solar panels. I've started saving money right now to buy each panel one by one. I'm sure that I can save money on my electric bill, and I can run my home for free. That would be a great idea, but I'm still not sure how much this whole operation will costs.
Heating what? I am lost! Can you please clarify your question? I know that heat from the sun are good to use for washed clothes right? They are way better than using driers.
I personally do not know much about solar heating, but it is a good bet that it will become more and more popular in the years to come since heating costs are constantly going through the roof. The price of natural gas is getting so expensive that my landlord who owns a laundromat says that he is lucky to break even.
Solar heating works for some things and is cheap in some applications. For others, like heating your entire house, I've read that it can get very costly. I believe the sun is still a good source of heat and we should use it as much as possible.
Sunshine is good at heating. I usually go outside of my house for sunbathing in the afternoon in winter to keep myself warm. However, the supply of the solar energy is unreliable so it may not be the best solution for heating. The supply of solar energy can be severely affected during rainy or cloudy days. Moreover, the solar planes are expensive.
I just gifted a solar hand light to a friend. That can be charged by keeping it out in the sun. Solar energy is what will be the energy of the future. We already see solar heaters here that is used to heat water.
Solar power is really indicated to be used for the summer time, in winter the solar power has not the same power as it does in the summer because of the sun. Solar panels are cheaper to use but very expensive to install them, the benefit is that the cost of bills would reduce with more than a half.