Solar Heating Tubes: The Other Green Energy

Posted by Craig Axelrod

In the current economic and political climate, smart building owners are looking for new ways to adhere to the ever changing government regulations and the demands of tenants. Getting hold of more environment friendly ways to supply energy to our buildings can be can be difficult.

Wind power has been getting a lot of press recently and is becoming the green technology of choice in many countries, but permit me to introduce you to solar heating tubes: the other green energy source. There is no better, or more untapped, source of renewable energy than the sun. Every day, 365 days per year in most environs, the sun gives us several hours of energy in the form of light and heat. But most of the energy it supplies goes to waste, while we continue to burn our way through the planets limited supply of fossil fuels. Things will only get worse if we continue to burn fossil fuels, and it’s time to put all the newly developed green technology to use, while many of the world’s governments are offering financial incentives.

Employing solar heating tubes as an alternate form of green energy will have many advantages, for both property owners and tenants. Based on the amount of hot water is used in the building, the savings can be huge, even if solar energy is used only to heat the building’s water. Needless to say, different buildings use vastly different quantities of hot water, but hot water is used in one fashion or another in practically every building, whether it is for tenants taking baths, doing laundry, washing dishes, or even just washing their hands. Numerous buildings also employ central heating systems, using coils of heated water beneath the floors to heat the entire building. If this is the case with your buildings, you will be able to save a lot of money by reducing the amount of oil, gas or electricity you use to heat your buildings.

Solar heating tubes represent a new approach to solar energy and are much more efficient than standard solar panels. In places like New York solar energy is typically not the best way to harness green energy as the climate is so changeable. However, solar heating tubes will continue to be effective even in the winter months. The solar heating tubes can be positioned in such a way that they can absorb the sun’s energy during all daylight hours, simply because the sun’s rays will be striking the surface of the cylinder during all daylight hours, as opposed to flat solar panels, which only produce power when the sun shines directly on their flat surface. The energy collected is then kept in copper rods inside of a vacuum sealed tube, allowing hardly any of the energy to escape. The tubes are so well insulated, in fact that the outside of the tubes will remain cool even though the temperature of the rods storing the solar power can reach well over 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The introduction of these two recent advances in solar technology makes it possible for property owners to use solar power in climates where it was once though to be impractical, such as those with much cloudy weather and colder environments. If you are a landlord in New York green energy is now within your grasp.

This really is one green energy system that you would be a fool not to take advantage of. Using the alternative green technology, the solar heating tube, won’t just reduce your carbon footprint and protect the ozone, but it also saves you a lot of money in the long run. When you look at it that way, it’s pretty hard to come up with a good reason not to use solar heating tubes.

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