The combination of heat pumps and solar components is a recent development and has great potential for improving the energy efficiency of house and hot water heating systems. As a consequence, it can enhance the energy footprint of a building substantially.

This work compares different systems, analyses their performance and illustrates monitoring techniques. It helps the reader to design, simulate and assess solar and heat pump systems. Good examples of built systems are discussed in detail and advice is given on how to design the most efficient system.

This book is the first one about this combination of components and presents the state of the art of this technology. It is based on a joint research project of two programmes of the International Energy Agency: the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) and the Heat Pump Programme. More than 50 experts from 13 countries have participated in this research.

About the Author

Jean-Christophe Hadorn is a Civil Engineer (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne) and holds an MBA from HEC University Lausanne. He led the Task 44 Solar and Heat Pump Systems of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme as operating agent from 2010 to 2013, a group of 55 participants that realized the present book....

The use of solar collectors for domestic hot water over the past 20 years has demonstrated that solar heating systems are now founded on a reliable and mature technology.
However, the development of similar, but more complex, systems to provide both domestic hot water and space heating (solar combisystems) resulted in a diverse range of different designs that were not carefully optimized to reflect local climate and practice.
Application of energy-efficient building strategies such as improved thermal insulation and use of low temperature heat supply systems is becoming increasingly common.
This trend, combined with growing environmental awareness and the subsidies available in certain countries, favours an increase in market share for solar combisystems.
The need for guidelines in selecting the appropriate system and designing this system according to the specific needs of the building and the local environment is therefore now increasingly pressing.
This book fills that need...



 

Heating water with the sun is a practice almost as old as humankind itself. Solar Water Heating, now completely revised and expanded, is the definitive guide to this clean and cost-effective technology.

Beginning with a review of the history of solar water and space heating systems from prehistory to the present, Solar Water Heating presents an introduction to modern solar energy systems, energy conservation, and energy economics. Drawing on the authors’ experiences as designers and installers of these systems, the book goes on to cover:

Types of solar collectors, solar water, and space heating systems and solar pool heating systems, including their advantages and disadvantages

System components, their installation, operation, and maintenance

System sizing and siting

Choosing the appropriate system

This book focuses on the financial aspects of solar water or space heating systems, clearly showing that such systems generate significant savings in the long run. With many diagrams and illustrations to complement the clearly written text, this book is designed for a wide readership ranging from the curious homeowner to the serious student or professional....

Get free heat and hot water from the sun!

There has never been a better time to install a solar hot water system. This simple but comprehensive guide will show you everything you need to know to install your own system, or to become a professional solar designer and installer. The authors have extensive experience in solar energy as well as in teaching, and they make learning about this lucrative technology easy and fun!

Topics Include: Site Analysis,  Design and Installation of: Drainback Systems, Closed Loop Glycol Systems, Thermosiphon Systems, Pool Heating Systems, Solar Hot Water Components, Solar Thermal Loops

Load Integration and Combi-systems, Roofing, Plumbing, Tanks and Heat Exchangers, Pumps and Fluids, Collector Mounting, System Controls, Performance and Monitoring, Troubleshooting and Maintenance, Codes and Regulations, Safety.

Includes hundreds of custom system schematics and full-color images...




 

Passive solar heating and passive cooling—approaches known as natural conditioning—provide comfort throughout the year by reducing, or eliminating, the need for fossil fuel. Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved.

Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book The Natural House, brings those principles up to date for a new generation of solar enthusiasts.

The techniques required to heat and cool a building passively have been used for thousands of years. Early societies such as the Native American Anasazis and the ancient Greeks perfected designs that effectively exploited these natural processes. The Greeks considered anyone who didn't use passive solar to heat a home to be a barbarian!

In the United States, passive solar architecture experienced a major resurgence of interest in the 1970s in response to crippling oil embargoes. With grand enthusiasm but with scant knowledge (and sometimes little common sense), architects and builders created a wide variety of solar homes. Some worked pretty well, but looked more like laboratories than houses. Others performed poorly, overheating in the summer because of excessive or misplaced windows and skylights, and growing chilly in the colder months because of insufficient thermal mass and insulation and poor siting.

In The Solar House, Dan Chiras sets the record straight on the vast potential for passive...