There are two types of solar energy, photovoltaic’s which produce electricity and solar thermal which produces heat. Photovoltaic’s gets all the attention as electricity is the universal power medium and cheap photovoltaic’s could revolutionize the world. While photovoltaic’s are still rapidly developing since its invention over 50 years ago by Bell Laboratories solar thermal has been a developed and proven technology for many years. Solar thermal uses the sun’s energy to heat a liquid. It is the same concept as placing a garden hose in the sun for an hour: the water will become hot. There isn’t much technology can do to improve heating a liquid so most of the solar thermal technology from the 1980’s is the same as today. There has been one new additional technology which is evacuated tube solar panels. Evacuated tubes are slightly more efficient than the older flat plates panels and work better in cloudy and colder climates. The downside is that they are costlier and to some people not as pleasing on the eyes. Since solar thermal is a mature technology the prices are very reasonable and the payback is just a matter of years compared to 10+ for most photovoltaic installations.

Over the next week I will be updating the site with information regarding the solar thermal installation installed at my family’s house.