Keeping your Houses Cool using Solar Power
As solar energy powers cars, so it can to your home air conditioning. The idea is as simple as putting an electric solar panel on your roof to catch energy from the sun; then convert it into electricity and use it to run your home’s air conditioning unit.
Solar panels and conventional air conditioner is ideal, yes. However, this simple concept requires many solar photovoltaic panels installed in your roofs and huge amount of money to purchase a solar generating capacity for your air conditioners at home. Might as well consider cheaper and efficient ways to keep your houses cool. Here are some of the options that you can choose from.
Evaporative Coolers
From the name itself, an evaporative cooler operates by using the water’s evaporation in achieving a cooling effect. Although it is only applicable in places of very dry climate, it is widely efficient as it only uses 25% of the energy consumed by the conventional air conditioning unit. Hence, when the evaporative cooler and a photovoltaic electric generation system are combined, it becomes cheaper and far more affordable.
Attic Vent
One of the common reasons why homes get hotter, especially in summer, is the improper ventilation in their attics. To enhance the cooling load, one must keep the attic space well-ventilated. This is where a simple solar-powered attic vent comes in.
All you need to do is to install a vent fan in the wall of your attic or on the roof. Then put a solar panel in a space that is facing the sun. To make it more effective during the afternoon, the hottest time of the day, angle the solar panel towards the west. The result – a cooler air inside the house.
More than anything else, check if your attic has vents for air intake at the top and at the bottom. This will ensure that warm air flows upward and cooler air comes in from below.
Passive Solar Cooling
Unlike other methods of using solar in houses, passive solar cooling avoids the sun’s heat from entering the roof. An example of this is the green roof, where the roof is reinforced to be planted with a garden. The soil and plants from the garden results to high insulation level and the water evaporation also yields cooling effect. Another example is the solar roof pond. Here, a large bladder, filled with water, is placed on the reinforced roof. During night time, the bladder is left open to enable the release of heat captured during day time. When the morning comes and during the entire day, the bladder is covered to absorb the heat coming from below.
There are other still other types of solar-powered air conditioning in the market such as desiccant based systems and absorption based refrigeration. But they are more widely applied to commercial and industrial use.
If you can afford the solar panels paired with conventional air conditioning unit, then well and good. But if you think it is much lavish, keep in mind that using solar power to keep your houses cool doesn’t need to be expensive. With these affordable tips, you can enjoy a cooler environment at the convenience of your homes.
