Using the sun to heat the water in your home will reduce your monthly utility bill, and your family’s carbon footprint on the world.
There is a lot of different companies on the market offering solar water heating systems. One of them is VELUX. It is bringing its Solar Water Heating system, proven for years in Europe and around the world, to the United States.

The Solar Water Heating System. Image by Veluxusa.

Why solar water heating systems?

Today’s energy methods need to become more sustainable, renewable and efficient. Natural resources such as gas and oil have been tapped so much that they are beginning to run low, making them ever more costly and difficult to find. High emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels are also causing noticeable global climate changes.

Energy prices continue to rise, and environmental concerns are high on the nation’s agenda. Savvy homeowners are on the lookout for alternative energy sources. VELUX, a global leader in skylights and other solar technologies, is meeting this need by providing solar hot water heating systems. As you can see, there are many benefits to solar hot water heating that make it a great energy choice.

Cost effective solution.
On average, if you install a solar water heater, your water heating bills should drop 50% – 80%. Also, because the sun is free, you’re protected from future fuel shortages and price hikes. Other financial incentives include:

* Anticipated payback period of 3 to 7 years, in years with state and federal incentives.
* Solar energy systems can take advantage of the sun’s free energy year round.
* Solar energy can be produced even at low temperatures.
* Federal tax credits help pay 30% of the system and installations costs. Many states and utilities offer additional support.
* Between tax credits and energy savings, this system offers a faster return on your investment than other types of solar energy systems.
* Lower first-time start up cost than solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy EERE consumer’s guide.

Environmentally beneficial
* Solar energy is an unlimited resource.
* Solar energy does not produce harmful emissions or require transportation or pipelines like electric energy does.
* Solar water heating systems installed in the U.S. help reduce our household energy consumption, and the nation’s reliance on toxic fossil fuels.
* Solar water heating systems will work anywhere in the U.S., not just sunny states.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy EERE consumer’s guide.

The Solar Water Heating System. Image by Veluxusa.

How it works?
Water heating systems are economical and effective.

Take a look at how they operate.
Solar water heating system installation video HERE.
Find more technical information here.
Resource: www.veluxusa.com.

Today more and more people discard the idea of using standard electric lights and are exploring the possibilities of using economical and eco friendly solar lighting solutions.

The Solar Path Lights. Image by Your Solar Link.

Path solar lights are an excellent choice for lighting paths, walkways, driveway perimeters or other regions around your home and in your landscape. They are often used in multiples to guide the way along a set of stairs or a dark walk.
Video below is showcasing the Stainless Steel Conical Path Lights. They are sold in sets of 2 at Your Solar Link’s website.

These solar path lights are 5 and a half inches in diameter and 14 inches high.
To get the most benefit from the sun, try to position your solar lights in a sunny place. The fixtures turn on and off automatically for your safety and convenience. This also allows you to “store” the electrical charge for a special event and ensure the longest possible run time.

A solar panel that collects sun energy during the day is located on the top of the light fixture. This highly efficient solar panel collects enough energy during the day to provide 8 to 10 hours of free light during the night. This Stainless Steel Solar Light set uses 2 ultra-bright LEDs for maximum light output and minimum battery usage. It comes with 1 rechargeable Ni-Cd AA battery. The lights are safe and water and corrosion resistant.
No wiring is required to install your Solar Light set, no need to call an electrician, just stick the ground stakes in and they are ready to go!

Have a look at them in a night setting (video). These solar path lights emit a soothing glow and softly light up flowers and shrubbery surrounding them. They release just enough light to guide you along a path or accentuate the beauty of your garden.
Solar path lights fall into the category of solar accent lighting and are designed to mark a place. You can use them exclusively or to compliment other types of outdoor lighting. Perhaps somewhere where you don’t need extremely bright (like a solar spot light), but want something subtle, producing just the right amount of light.

This Stainless Steel Solar Path Light set is an excellent savings not only because you can buy it at a lower price from www.yoursolarlink.com, but also because you get free, clean and renewable solar energy while using them.

Here’s an easy way to learn the way solar panels work.

What is solar power?

Solar energy is radiant energy that is produced by the sun. Daily the sun radiates, or sends out, a huge amount of energy. The sun radiates more energy in a single second than people have used since the beginning of time!

The energy of the sun derives from within the sun itself.

Like other stars, the sun is a big ball of gases––mostly hydrogen and helium atoms. The hydrogen atoms in the sun’s core combine to create helium and generate energy in a process called nuclear fusion.

During nuclear fusion, the sun’s extremely high pressure and temperature cause hydrogen atoms to come apart and their nuclei (the central cores of the atoms) to fuse or combine. Four hydrogen nuclei fuse to become one helium atom. However the helium atom contains less mass than the four hydrogen atoms that fused. Some matter is lost during nuclear fusion. The lost matter is emitted into space as radiant energy.

It takes countless years for the energy in the sun’s core to make its way to the solar surface, and somewhat over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to earth. The solar energy travels to the earth at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light.

Simply a small percentage of the power radiated by the sun into space strikes our planet, one part in two billion. Yet this volume of energy is enormous. Each day enough energy strikes the United States to supply the nation’s energy needs for one and a half years!

Where does all this energy go?

About 15 percent of the sun’s energy that hits our planet is reflected back into space. Another 30 percent is used to evaporate water, which, when lifted into the atmosphere, produces rainfall. Solar power also is absorbed by plants, the land and the oceans. The remaining could be employed to supply our energy needs.

Who invented solar energy?

Humans have harnessed solar power for hundreds of years. As early as the 7th century B.C., people used simple magnifying glasses to concentrate the light of the sun into beams so hot they would cause wood to catch fire. More than a century ago in France, a scientist used heat from a solar collector to make steam to drive a steam engine.

At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists and engineers began researching ways to use solar energy in earnest. One important development was a remarkably efficient solar boiler introduced by Charles Greeley Abbott, a United States astrophysicist, in 1936. The solar hot water heater became popular at this time in Florida, California, and the Southwest. The industry started in the early 1920s and was in full swing right before World War II. This growth lasted up to the mid-1950s when low-cost gas had become the primary fuel for heating American homes.

People and world governments remained largely indifferent to the possibilities of solar power until the oil shortages of the 1970s. Today, people use solar energy to heat buildings and water and to generate electricity.

How we use solar power today?

Solar power is employed in a variety of ways, of course. There are two very basic types of solar energy:

* Solar thermal energy collects the sun’s warmth through one of two means: in water or in an anti-freeze (glycol) mixture.

* Solar photovoltaic energy converts the sun’s radiation to usable electricity.

Listed below are the five most practical and popular solutions on how solar energy is employed:

1. Small portable solar photovoltaic systems. We see these used everywhere, from calculators to solar garden products. Portable units may be used for everything from RV appliances while single panel systems are used for traffic signs and remote monitoring stations.

2. Solar pool heating. Running water in direct circulation systems via a solar collector is a very practical solution to heat water for your pool or hot tub.

3. Thermal glycol energy to heat water. In this method (indirect circulation), glycol is heated by sunshine and the heat is then transferred to water in a hot water tank. This technique of collecting the sun’s energy is much more practical now than in the past. In areas as far north as Edmonton, Alberta, solar thermal methods to heat water are economically sound. It can pay for itself in three years or less.

4. Integrating solar photovoltaic energy into your home or office. In many parts of the planet, solar photovoltaics are an economically feasible approach to supplement the power of your own home. In Japan, photovoltaics are competitive with other types of power. In the USA, new incentive programs make this form of solar power ever more viable in many states. An increasingly popular and practical way of integrating solar energy into the power of your home or business is through the use of building integrated solar photovoltaics.

5. Large independent photovoltaic systems. When you have enough sun power at your site, you may be able to go off grid. You may also integrate or hybridize your solar power system with wind power or other forms of renewable energy to stay ‘off the grid’.

How do Photovoltaic panels work?

Silicon is mounted beneath non-reflective glass to produce photovoltaic panels. These panels collect photons from the sun, converting them into DC electric power. The energy created then flows into an inverter. The inverter transforms the energy into basic voltage and AC electrical power.

Solar cells are prepared with particular materials called semiconductors like silicon, which is presently the most generally used. When light hits the photovoltaic cell, a particular share of it is absorbed inside the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is given to the semiconductor.

The energy unfastens the electrons, permitting them to run freely. Solar power cells also have more than one electric field that act to compel electrons unfastened by light absorption to flow in a specific direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by introducing metal links on the top and bottom of the Photovoltaic cell, the current can be drawn to use it externally.

Do you know the positives and negatives of solar technology?

Solar Pro Arguments

- Heating our homes with oil or natural gas or using electricity from power plants running with fossil fuels is a reason behind climate change and climate disruption. Solar power, on the other hand, is clean and environmentally-friendly.

- Solar hot-water heaters require little maintenance, and their initial investment may be recovered within a relatively small amount of time.

- Solar hot-water heaters can work in almost any climate, even in very cold ones. You just have to choose the best system for your climate: drainback, thermosyphon, batch-ICS, etc.

- Maintenance costs of solar powered systems are minimal and the warranties large.

- Financial incentives (USA, Canada, European states…) can aid in eliminating the price of the initial investment in solar technologies. The U.S. government, as an example, offers tax credits for solar systems certified by by the SRCC (Solar Rating and Certification Corporation), which amount to 30 percent of the investment (2009-2016 period).

Solar Cons Arguments

- The initial investment in Solar Water heaters or in Solar PV Electric Systems is higher than that required by conventional electric and gas heater systems.

- The payback period of solar PV-electric systems is long, as well as those of solar space heating or solar cooling (only the solar domestic hot water heating payback is short or relatively short).

- Solar water heating does not support a direct conjunction with radiators (including baseboard ones).

- Some air-con (solar space heating and the solar cooling) systems are very pricey, and rather untested technologies: until recently, solar air-con has not been an economical option.

- The efficiency of solar powered systems is determined by sunlight resources. It is in colder climates, where heating or electricity needs are higher, that the efficiency is smaller.

Article by Barbara Young.

Barbara Young writes on motorhome solar panels; in her personal hobby site 12voltsolarpanels.net. Her work is devoted to helping people save energy using solar energy to reduce CO2 emissions and energy dependency.

Did you ever think of adding some kind of attic ventilation to your house to keep it cooler during exhausting hot summer days or just to get rid of excessive humidity? There are quite a few solar powered attic fans on the market.
Your Solar Link now offers a new model of whisper quiet technology 20″ diameter blade (the largest blade on the market) Multi-Purpose Solar Attic Fans to ventilate attics and to keep your house cooler.

Solar Attic Fan. More about Multi-Purpose Solar Attic Fans.

Its newly designed co-polymer UV resistant shroud is created specifically to increase airflow and to isolate the solar module from heat transfer. Unlike metal it will not rust, corrode, or dent. These particular solar powered attic fans rely on a 30-watts (unlike earlier models with 10-20-watts panels) solar panel to power a DC motor when the sun is shining or even in partially cloudy climates. They are great for both residential and commercial use.
Solar powered fans usually exhaust air at a rate of 800 to 1200 CFM and are set up with intake vents (such as soffit and gable vents) to provide high-capacity powered ventilation without any electric operating costs. Multi-Purpose Solar Attic Fans from Your Solar Link exhaust air at a rate of 2400 CFM plus and are perfect for 1500 – 3000 square feet attic space homes. Most vents are positioned high on the roof, near the ridge, and combined with soffit or gable vents for balanced intake and exhaust air streams.

Image from www.yoursolarlink.com. Solar Attic Fan.
Read more on Multi-Purpose Solar Attic Fans HERE.

Because they cost nothing to operate, solar attic fans are much more affordable than conventional powered attic fans. By reducing your attic temperature, attic fans can help reduce summertime cooling loads, providing ventilation without added utility cost.

How well do solar attic fans work? Check out this video demonstrating solar attic ventilation.

Steps to install a Solar Attic Fan:

1. In attic, mark location of solar powered vent between two roof rafters.
2. Drive nail through center of vent location.
3. Install roof brackets and fall-arrest system to roof.
4. Scribe outline of vent’s flashing on roof using homemade dowel compass.
5. Cut shingles along circular outline with a utility knife.
6. Pull nails and remove shingles from within the circle.
7. Use compass to scribe hole for vent onto roof sheathing.
8. Cut hole in roof with a reciprocating saw.
9. Remove shingles from around the vent opening.
10. Apply continuous bead of tri-polymer roofing cement around hole.
11. Set roof vent over hole, then screw the fan’s flashing to roof.
12. Apply more caulking around flashing.
13. Replace all the roof shingles around the vent fan with 1 ½-inch roofing nails.

Sounds complicated? Not really. If you are hands-on and do-it-yourself type, you can easily put solar attic fan in. Just watch the video below (installing solar powered attic fan in just 30 minutes), read your solar fan manual and follow the steps.

Good luck trying to keep cool this summer and to those who already have installed their solar attic ventilation – enjoy free energy and let us know how it worked out for you!

One of the latest developments in urban design are rooftop gardens and landscaping walls.
Architects all over the world are proving that sustainable, urban agriculture can be economically valuable in the city.

Image from www.canpages.ca. Green Roof Garden.

Image from www.good.is.
Portland’s Vertical Garden on Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal building.

It is green roof gardens that allow bringing vegetation into cities in a big way. The concept is surprisingly as simple as growing various plants up the outer walls and on rooftops. Remember one of the captivating wonders of the ancient world – Babylon Gardens?

Modern architects use concept of “Semiramida Gardens” allowing buildings to reduce heat island effects and to use less energy, saving on annual energy costs.

In the past green roof gardens were attractive and practical, but not edible.
This was until someone with a creative spark decided to make green roofs twice as useful and productive and use rooftop gardens as a source of fresh produce. Now green roof gardens are tied to restaurant businesses. And what could be more ingenious? The food that is used in exquisite culinary creations in the kitchens below grows right on the rooftops of restaurants all over the world!

Let’s take a look at some of the restaurants that implement green roofing produce in their everyday menus…

Image by Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago – Uncommon Ground restaurant rooftop garden.

Uncommon Ground restaurant in Chicago has a 2,500 square-foot rooftop garden. The executive chef tells the Chicago Sun-Times: “We just used the peppers from the garden and stuffed them with chorizo. When things from the farm are ready, we’ll incorporate it however we can. I come up once a day to see what’s ripe and ready.”

Image by Bonnie Alter. Toronto – Fairmont Royal York green roof.

In Toronto, at the Fairmont Royal York, twelve apprentice chefs grow a vegetable and herbs garden, also keeping bees on their roofs.

Image by Blueberry Farmers T&F. Ginza, Tokyo – bees on the roofs.

In Ginza, Tokyo an NPO, Ginza Mitsubachi Project manages to keep some 150 thousand bees with 260kg of honey gained each year. The honey is used in sweets by a celebrated confectionery shop.

Image from www.treehugger.com. New York City – Hydroponic Farm.

New York City’s First Rooftop Hydroponic Farm has been installed and is expected to produce 30 tons of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs annually from its rooftop garden.

Image by NYBTA. The Science Barge.

Sun Works, the people who built the Science Barge – An Urban Farm that Floats and Grows in NYC, state that New York’s 14,000 acres of unshaded rooftop could feed as many as 20 million people a year, far more than the whole population of the city.

Image from Architects Newspaper. Rooftop garden in Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, architect Alexis Rochas has put a rooftop garden on an old Holiday Inn that was converted to a condominium. See him talking about this project below.

These are just a few examples of creative uses of rooftops and walls gardens. Technology is moving forward and with a little bit of good will and a whole lot of imagination, there is hope for a wonderful and green future for our cities.