How Does Active Solar Heating Work?

Video Transcript

"So Bruce, if I wanted to heat my house with solar thermal, how does it work exactly? It's actually quite simple. The sun shines through the glass and heats up a plate -- usually a copper plate -- that is laminated to a heat transfer tube...to some heat transfer tubing that carries a fluid to a heat exchanger that either heats your house right then or heats a storage device...storage device like hot rocks or hot water tank or something. And then that heat -- that stored heat -- is used later. Are you saying that I have to rip out my bathtub and put a big tank in there, or can I fit this in my house in the existing structure? Most people can fit it in their house -- their existing structure -- and use their existing water tank. Sometimes they may have to add an additional storage tank next to it, but solar thermal is an easy way to heat water. So now that I've got the solar thermal...I got the hot water in my tank, can I use that then to not just wash the dishes? I can heat the house with it? If you have enough of it, but most people just use it for hot water because they can buy a small system that works all year-round. Otherwise, they buy a giant system to heat their house, but it only has a return on their investment during the winter. So these systems, if they're designed properly, can actually heat up enough storage or liquid so that they can be used all night long. And that way, you're taking the high energy from the sun during the daytime and using it to heat your house through the evening."