Solar Thermal Energy

Harnessing the sun’s power has been used for centuries. This was used to simply dried clothes, help preserve meats and even process coffee. But now the sun is being used for more important life saving technologies and has made great leaps from its past uses. Solar Thermal Energy is one of the clean, renewable and inexhaustible energy sources that science is trying to fully understand. To make the concept simple, a solar panel is faced towards the sun to collect the energy and in turn, that energy is used to heat water or a chemical compound that absorbs and retains the heat and is piped into homes to give hot water or heat rooms with pipes that either line the walls or floors.

The use of solar thermal energy is not just a few households of die-hard enthusiasts or hobbyists. For some countries it has already integrated into everyday living for its citizens. Take Denmark for example. They are one of the world’s leading users of wind power and its island of Aereo, the town of Marstal has proven to the Earth’s community that solar thermal energy is not only possible but is an alternative, no, solution to the fossil fuel based methods for providing heat. The town is just like any other town with its schools, playing fields, homes, and apartment buildings. However on the outskirts of town is the world’s largest solar thermal plant composed of 18,000 square meters of solar panels that provide all if not most of the household’s hot water and heating needs. As the solar thermal energy is harnessed and heats the water that is piped through the panels to approximately 70 degrees, it is collected in a water station wherein it can be directed to the homes of the townsfolk for use. For the months of May until September, Marstal avoid the burning or incinerating 9000 liter of oil by providing 100% of the housing with hot water while the rest of the year it receives a third of its thermal heating needs. Homes are found to have heating panels installed beneath the floors in order to heat rooms during the cold seasons without utilizing a furnace that would produce a smell or may prove as a hazard when if left unattended. It is clean, cheap and more importantly, reliable without any interruption when needed. Houses and apartments with solar panels are a common sight with enough to provide ample heat to 144 families. But all this technology currently being used is just a tiny percentage of the power consumption of the EU. In this light the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation has proposed that future homes and buildings be designed and built with solar thermal capability from the beginning. This is the most economic point where the system can be installed and will immediately give the option of using clean energy to its occupants. The Federation states that it makes no sense to omit this technology and continue fossil fuel based workings in a time where it is receiving pressure to convert due to its hazardous effects to the people and environment. A family that uses solar thermal energy for heat and hot water can actually prevent 80% to 90% of noxious gas emissions from fossil fuel methods.

As solar thermal energy is being used more and more everyday, the need for change in other careers has already begun. Just outside Copenhagen, factories creating solar panels are booming as fast as the people demand for this clean energy source. There are 2 million families that are presently enjoying the advantages of solar thermal energy and sales have increased 50% every year. But careers are not just limited to the creating of solar panels. There are definitely opportunities in technical installation, maintenance, engineering and operational handling. As more and more of solar thermal energy potential are met, more jobs are created.  Bigger plants such as the one in Seville where solar panels or vast number and size collect and redirect the energy to a tall tower which collects heat that turns water to steam and runs turbines need people with solar thermal and mechanical expertise.

The sun that ancestors have prayed to in legends and myths for life and sustenance has already begun to become a reality. Not only can the sun’s energy be harnessed, controlled and directed for consumption, the work or jobs to do so provide families with food on the table and a healthier lifestyle.