Go Greener Tips

It is estimated that the normal family home spends a lot of money on hot water or rather the fuel that is required to heat water. This has traditionally been done by utility companies that use coal or other fossil fuels (or even nuclear energy) to energy a hot water element or boiler in your home.

There are various methods and devices that make this system as efficient as possible but the bottom line is that fossil fuels are getting more complex to find and will get harder to find in the future. Consequently the costs are rising and will continue to rise. Alternatives are being looked for by utility companies, governments and the individual consumer.

One alternative is to use solar power to heat your water. This article will discuss how a solar power water boiler works and how it could be the alternative to high power bills whilst being an environmentally friendly option too.

Using the sun to heat water has been used for thousands of years. It is still one of the more popular ways to use solar energy even today and the basic principle remains the same. It is simply a matter of placing water in a location where it can be exposed to the suns thermal rays. There are two common approaches to doing this. They are called the flat plate collector and batch collector systems.

Flat plate collectors are simply a series of pipes that are placed in a part of the home where there is direct sunlight (generally a south facing roof). Water is passed through the pipes and is heated by the sun in the process. The pipes are designed to take maximum advantage of the thermal heat.

A batch collector system is a specially made water tank that will absorb the thermal heating provided by the sun and thus heat the water stored in the tank. This water can then be used in the home. The tank is placed in a position where it can get maximum exposure to sunlight.

The water supplied by either of these systems can then be used in the regular plumbing system of the house where it can be used for everyday usage such as showers, washing up the dishes and cooking. Even though the home will still be connected to the electricity or gas that normally heats the water, the solar heated water will require a lot less power to heat it than ordinary cooler water. This will help to save on energy bills.

Purchasing and installing each system will cost a bit of cash but the maintenance cost is low and the system will last anywhere from 10 to 25 years. Depending on how much hot water you’ll use and how efficient your home is in terms of storing hot water, you could pay off the purchase and installation costs within 5 to 7 years. After that you would be saving money. You would also be doing your bit in decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases pushed into the atmosphere.

This article is brought to you by George Zalcman. George Zalcman has always had a passion for green technologies, and believes that we should all get on the boat before natural resources become limited. George Zalcman is part of an air to water technology hoping that this will eventually bring an end to the water crisis as well.