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BackPacking
Backpacking is a mixture of hiking (walking in the wilderness or
climbing mountains for exploring.) and camping (staying in the
wilderness or in a protected forest for a day or two).
Backpacking is the best of both worlds. A backpacker makes...
How do Oil Spills Happen
When we hear about an oil spill that has occurred in some part
of the world we may be unaware of just how much oil has been
spilled into either the water or on land. When we are talking
about an oil spill, we are talking about a huge amount of...
Perfect Lawns, is it worth it?
Have you ever been driving down the road with the windows open going past a golf course or a field and then you get a strange smell? A chemical type of odor? Or go walking in the country and notice a large area, usually a field, all brown with dead...
Saving Money by Saving Electicity
Are you aware of how much electricity you consume every day?
With the rising price of fuel, energy costs are on the rise. And
yet, electricity is still one of the most wasted forms of energy
on the planet. There are many ways to save...
Will Soy Candles be the Leader to Light the Future?
Ahhhh, the scent and sight of a burning paraffin wax candle and the appealing ambiance that it floats throughout a room! One may think that this scenario is innocence in its purest sense. There is, after all, that cozy feeling which makes one give...
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Solar Cooling - Air-Conditioning From the Sun
At first glance, solar cooling looks like an oxymoron. However,
the same energy that can provide heat in the wintertime can also
provide cooling during the summer.
Several passive cooling systems have been developed and tested.
At their simplest, they rely on a coolant that absorbs and
dissipates heat from the house. This could be a pool of water on
the rooftop which absorbs seat from the inside of the house as
it evaporates on exposure to the sun.
More sophisticated passive solar cooling systems have a solar
collector which is shaded during the daytime. A storage medium
collects heat during the day and dissipates it at night by
exposing the solar collector to the cool night air.
Since the solar collector must be shaded, a retractable awning
or overhang extension can be installed. Since the system can be
reversed in the winter months, it is important that the solar
collector can be exposed to sunshine if needed.
Solar panels can also be used to operate traditional air
conditioners. As it
happens, the periods of intense heat
correspond to the periods of peak electricity production from
photovoltaic cells. As long as you have solar panels which
generate sufficient to electricity, you can operate air
conditioners at no cost.
Solar cooling that does not take advantage of high technology is
another possibility. The Romans used a system of running water
to cool down exterior walls of their houses. The heat of the sun
causes the water to evaporate and dissipate the heat within the
house. This kind of system can be used on walls or on rooftops.
Heating and cooling are two of the biggest expenses for most
households. Using solar energy to reduce this expense makes
sense financially as well as ecologically. The less dependent we
are on fossil fuels for heating and cooling the cleaner the
environment will be.
About the author:
Hans is author at
http://www.alternative-energy-guide.com/ the energy site for
"non techies"/p>
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