Solar Homes & Solar Collectors

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        Solar energy is our birthright like the air we breathe or the water we drink. Solar Home Plans and  affordable   Solar Hot Water Plans  are the gateway into a "Solar Age"  of energy independence. Fossil fuels are no longer necessary to keep the wheels of civilization turning. Build your own solar heating system with an MTD Solar Collector Kit. Explore the Strawberry Fields Book Store  for more information. Alternative energies like solar energy  will increase in value as fossil fuel prices escalate. Solar collectors, solar hot water systems, heat storage vaults, photovoltaic electricity, solar panels, solar greenhouses and solar house plans will become more important in this century. According to Buckminster Fuller "We have wondered too far from the roots." An energy crisis can only be avoided only if we learn to rely on a diffuse, sustainable resource like the sun. . 

BIO of JC

MTD Solar Collector     KIT 
Differential Controller  KIT
Differential Thermostat
KIT
Solar Heating Controller
 with monitors
Trickle Down Solar Heating
MTD Solar Heating

MTD Solar Home 
MTD Data

Collector Efficiency
Energy Alternatives 

Green Collar Work

Solar Heating in December
Solar Heating in January
Multi Tank Heat Storage

DIY S
olar Heating Panels
Sustainable Living Homesteads
Gallery of Solar Homes

Solar Heated Workshop Plans
Sustainable Solar Heated Workshop

Energy Czar
Sun Money from a Solar Workshop 
Solar Thermal Roof
Solar Heated Roof
How to Solar Heat

Solar Pumps

DIY Solar Heat Storage

Solar Thermostatic Controller

Making Temperature Probes
Solar Heat Controller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do-it-yourself solar thermal projects can make us more energy independent. The greenhouse effect is a miracle of nature that makes trapping heat possible.  Without  this method of trapping heat  our tiny planet would be a frozen waste land like the Moon.  A conscious effort to make better use of this miracle of nature can free us from dependence on non renewable resources and allow us to at last live in a sustainable economy unfettered by the restraints of big business and big government. The greenhouse effect is something that all domestic solar thermal systems have in common....




Solar collectors also use the greenhouse effect  to capture the sun's energy. Both solar collectors and solar greenhouses are able to harvest the suns energy in the form of heat. Greenhouses and Trombe Walls use air to transfer heat and Collectors use water or a combination of water and antifreeze.

Two of these serpentine collectors cover a surface area 60 square feet.
The glazing is more durable than glass and much lighter.
See what people are saying about "How to Build a Solar Hot Water System" and this do-it-yourself collector design on my Testimonial page

Solar Panels  are very much different than solar collectors. They use selective wavelengths of light to produce electricity and they work best in  direct sunlight at a low temperature.  Large PV systems are still quite costly. They use inverters to convert DC panel power to compatible AC power. This AC power is often interfaced with the grid so that solar energy may be shared with others. 

Solar Charge Controllers are used maintain an adequate charge on batteries. Solar Heat Controllers are used to collect, store and distribute solar heat.


This an  AC/DC Differential Controller . It responds to the difference in temperature between collector and storage and turns an AC or DC pump on and off to maximize the heat harvest from a solar hot water or solar heating system.  Temperature monitors are used to display the actual temperatures inside the collector and inside the heat storage tank, but the controller will function without them.  This AC/DC controller consumes less than 1 watt of power per hour yet it is capable of regulating 500 Watt pumps.  This is a rugged, dependable, analog Differential Controller. 

The multi-functional, programmable, digital-controller, below may also be used to control a solar heat harvest in differential mode. It may also be used in the "heat loop mode" to maintain a uniform household temperature from stored solar heat stored. the Solar Heat Controller comes in an attractive wooden case and has been designed to hide all wire connections for  probes, power and relay behind a wall. It activates an  external relay which in turn drives a pump to harvest or distribute solar heat.




 

All, active, solar thermal systems use differential controllers to collect and store solar heat for domestic solar hot water  but the deluxe solar heat controller, above may also be used  to regulate the home solar heating system.

 

Building plans for solar collectors, heat storage vaults and entire solar hot water system are available from the Strawberry Fields Solar Book Store . Notice there's no chimney on this house because the only source of home heating comes from the sun. It's simple one story hexagonal solar home is 32 ft in diameter, with a full basement, a 1000  gallon heat storage vault  and a 250 sq. ft. solar thermal roof.  Join the Solar Thermal Energy Group and discover the kind of solar home that's right for your taste. Become part of part of the new age of energy independence and take a stand against global warming and big business. 

 

 


 

 

This house is a bit more conventional. 
It's based on a Harry E Thompson's Trickle Down solar thermal roof system but it's been modified to for easy installation on top of an existing roof.
I call this new concept Modified Trickle Down solar heating or MTD Solar Heating
Click on the house for a streaming video show. 
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How to Build a Solar Hot Water System
 
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Temperature Probes

Solar Energy Center 

World Without Oil 

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Plant Bed heating

Solar Age
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Stimulus and Renewable Energy Recovery Bill

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Recycle for Solar

Low Cost Solar PV Panels

 

And find your place in the sun.

Clinton, Obama and Energy
Alternative Housing for the 21st Century
 

 Active Solar    Passive Solar  
 Greenhouse Effect   
Heat Storage Vaults
 
Gallery of Solar Homes
 
Photovoltaic Electricity Animation
 
  Solar Water Heating Animation  
Our Sun and Our Future 
Solar Politics for a Small Planet 
Five Solar Thermal Principles

Solar Energy Facts

Solar Heating

MTD Solar Heating

   
When the Lights go Out    

Sun Dancing With Robert Redford    Earth Bound Leonardo    Bonnie Raitt, the Sunshine Lady  

Utopian Dream

Solar Energy Science Projects

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Little House on Pine Hill

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