Solar Heating, Cooking, and Hot Water
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Capturing the Sun's Heat Isn't Hard -- Just Catch a Few Rays!
Anyone jumping into their car after a day at the beach will immediately understand how easy it is to capture the heat of the sun--especially if they've forgotten to cover their leather or vinyl seats with a towel before plunking their bare legs and arms on them.
So, if it's so easy, then why don't more people, businesses, and other institutions capture and use this amazing heat? Besides, with the SUN being the cause of Global Warming in the first place, we might as well figure out how to use all this conveniently available heat!
This Squidoo lens provides some ideas and suggestions for how you can catch some rays and enjoy the clean, energy-efficient, and non-fossil-fuel eating heating from the sun!
What's Cooking Under the Sun?
Well, you can cook the air (solar air heating), cook the water (solar water heating), and cood the food (solar ovens)... and you've got to start somewhere! Here are some starter ideas for you!
Global Sun Oven - Solar Cooker
The Global Sun Oven® is the world's most widely used more...0 points
Hybrid Solar Cooker Sun Oven Portable Cooker by Sun BD Corporation
This unique hybrid solar oven by Sun BD Corporatio more...0 points
Hot Pot Solar Cooker
The HotPot solar oven comes with the large heavy d more...0 points
SciEd Solar Oven
Oven, Solar; 350 behind heat-retaining windows; Co more...0 points
Double Hung Window Solar Air Heater Panel - 32"x26"
The solar heating panels offered by HeatingOnline are more...0 points
Solar Heating Wall Mount Collector + Thermostat 96X36X5
US Solar Heating SH7 module is a solar air heating more...0 points
Pressurized Solar Water Heater with Vacuum Glass Tubes and Heat Pipes
It is a great system which adopted high technology more...0 points
12 Tube Split Solar Water Heater Collector
This solar water heater is primarily used with a w more...0 points
Solar Links -- The Sun in the News
- Portugal's Moura/Alentejo Plain Solar Farm
- Portugal is cranking up the world's largest solar photovoltaic farm that generates electricity straight from sunlight near Moura, on the Alentejo plain in eastern Portugal. This area has the most sunshine per square meter a year in Europe.
- Stirling Energy Systems
- Interesting concept of energy capture and retrieval!
- Dave's Solar Max Advantage Blog (Just Started)
- Dave is trying to keep up with all the news about new solar and alternate energy--and he's ranting about it here on this blog!
Okay, Gas Prices Make Driving Them Expensive Nowadays -- So You Might as Well Use Them as ...
Well, the fellow in this video has an interesting point. Just park the car in your driveway and let it provide heat for the house!
Car Cooking -- A Humorous Take on It
Solar Cooking! Now that Gas and Diesel Fuel has shot over $5 a gallon, here's a new use for our cars!
As a Boy Scout growing up in New Mexico, I learned a lot about "survival" cooking and camping.
One of the more interesting ways to cook food was presented to us as "car cooking". The main point of the technique involved taking some prepared (maybe marinated) meat (maybe a piece of steak, but remember, I was a Boy Scout--so "mystery meat" could have also been an option), some sliced veggies (maybe some sliced bell peppers, some sliced onions, and some sliced potatoes). Then laying the meat and veggies out on some aluminum foil and wrapping them well so that they are sealed.
This well-sealed and well-wrapped package was then tied onto the manifold of the car before embarking on a trip to our campground--depending on how cold it was outside, the distance to our campsite, the amount of meat and veggies in the package, we could have a nicely cooked meal when we arrived at the campsite.
We did have to perfect this technique through a lot of trial and error... and, as a result, our car always smelled funny and the neighbors' cats and dogs always found the car particularly attractive.
Pushing the Limit
Let's Push this Analogy Even Further
Another thing I noticed when I lived in New Mexico was how BLAZING HOT it would get during the summers--especially out in the parking lot. And especially inside the car after it had been sitting out in the parking lot all day.
So, after looking at the "dimensions" of a standard vehicle (namely, my beat-up, on-last-legs, excuse for a vehicle), I determined that a pretty good feast could be arranged.
- Picking a morning that promised to bring another cloud-less, brilliantly sunny, day
- The glove-box would be a handy size for a foil-wrapped chicken.
- Hot-dogs could be skewered on the stick-shifter (of course, you'd have to take the knob off the shifter to be able to slide those hot-dogs onto it)
- A pig could be wrapped in aluminum foil (if you didn't have handy banana leaves for a traditional Hawaiian luau) to make the "Kalua Pig"--(aka "Roast Pig")--it would fit nicely in the trunk.
- A side of beef wrapped in aluminum foil could be accomodated when stretched across the back seat.
- And to fill the two front bucket seats, two foil-wrapped turkeys could be safely buckled in.
- For some nicely crisped fries, you could lay them out on some foil draped across the top of the dash.
- Once you get all the vittles strapped in, you just roll up the windows to make a tight seal, then close the doors, and wait until late afternoon to remove the goodies
If you have black upholstery and you have parked the car such that the largest windows (usually the front and rear windows) face the east and west (rising sun and setting sun for maximum heat capture) you will have a well-cooked feast waiting for dinner time!
Uh... this was written in jest (as a joke...) I don't recommend that you impale hot-dogs on your stick-shift or use your trunk as a pig-roasting pit or your glove-box as a chicken roaster. The FDA has determined that cooking food near vinyl or plastic or the chemicals found in or near motor vehicles could expose the food to questionable chemicals. Besides, you probably wouldn't want to drive a car with all the greasy dash, stickshift, and upholstery--and you'd really annoy folks with all the neighbors' cats and dogs chasing after your car!
But, before you think I was jesting... here's an example of Car-Baked Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies!
Row of Solar Ovens and a Parabolic Solar Collector In Use as Part of an Alternate Energy Class Demonstration
Hey! Don't Turn On a Light! Use the Illumination of the Sun for Your Reading Light!
And these are a great start to shed light on Solar POWER!
Solar Water Heating: A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Water and Space Heating Systems (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series) by Bob Ramlow, Benjamin Nusz
Heating water with the sun is almost as old as humankind more...0 points
Planning and Installing Solar Thermal Systems: A Guide for Installers, Architects and Engineers (Planning and Installing) by German Solar Energy Society (DGS)
* Adapted from the successful German edition, which more...0 points
Solar Heating Systems for Houses: A Design Handbook for Solar Combisystems
* Presents the collaborative work of international more...0 points
Solar House: A Guide for the Solar Designer by Terry Galloway
Covering the full life span of the project, from siting more...0 points
The New Ecological Home: A Complete Guide to Green Building Options (Chelsea Green Guides for Homeowners) by Dan Chiras
Shelter, like many other elements of human existen more...0 points
Passive Solar House: The Complete Guide to Heating and Cooling Your Home by James Kachadorian
For the past ten years The Passive Solar House has more...0 points
Build Your Own Solar Heating System by Kenneth Clive
This book provides step-by-step instructions for t more...0 points
The Earth Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book by Mike Oehler
The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book is the f more...0 points
Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable... by Rob Roy
An earth-sheltered, earth-roofed home has the least more...0 points
This Isn't Tough Technology -- Collecting the Sun's Energy Has Been Done for Centuries!
The Heat is there.... all you have to do is find a way to COLLECT IT!
The Sun on Your Shoulder? Or on Your Shirt! Or Bumper!
Study Up on Alternate Energy! You Need References To Make Intelligent Choices!
I've recently discovered an interesting resource that you can see when you click here. Lots of ideas for ways you can build your own alternate energy sources for your home or small business.
And here are two more:
Solar Power Design Manual--Teach Yourself All About Solar Power. Comprehensive Manual by Genuine Expert. Spreadsheet Included.
Renewable Energy Solutions--The Manual--The folks who put this together have been presented on TV, Google, and the New York Times as a source of Alternate Energy Information. Good stuff for those in need of Alternate Energy!
Making the water-flow panel for a solar water heater in an alternate energy class demonstration
Sun by the Bay.... eBay, That Is!
More Sun on Your Back or on Your Shirt!
Hey! Drop a Few Rays and Give Us a Note Here!
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Reply
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Jereziah
Jun 10, 2011 @ 8:36 am | delete
- So what can you say 'bout Solar Air Conditioner
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RomyWhite59
Jul 19, 2009 @ 5:38 am | delete
- love the car cooking! Nice lens.
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starsam
Feb 16, 2009 @ 9:55 am | delete
- Your lens would be a great addition to the 'Solar Technology and Solar Energy' Group
( http://www.squidoo.com/groups/solar )
Feel free to add it anytime!
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MerryM Dec 15, 2008 @ 3:51 pm | delete
- Nice lens, what a great idea to harness all that heat that builds up in a parked car! (Thanks for your congrats on my lotd last week, btw.)
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Solar Water Heating for Your Home?
Solar Domestic Water Heating: The Earthscan Expert Handbook for Planning, Design and Installation (Earthscan Expert Series)
Amazon Price: $50.20 (as of 02/17/2012)
This is a reference you can use to get your hot water flowing for your house. Let the sun shine on your solar water heater and have nice hot showers!
Solar Thermal and Biomass Energy Sources!
Solar Thermal and Biomass Energy
Amazon Price: $161.23 (as of 02/17/2012)
This book gives you the information you need for capturing energy from sources available to all of us--the sun and biomass! You want heat? You got it!
Solar Cookers! The Sun will Cook it for You!
Cooking with the Sun: How to Build and Use Solar Cookers
Amazon Price: $29.62 (as of 02/17/2012)
If you want to know how to build and use your solar cookers, this book will get you there! Yummy stuff from the sun!
