Hi I'm Ralph Somers, moderator of Ralph's Green Energy Guide. Many homes are now designed to take advantage of passive solar heating given today's energy concerns. Solar thermal is a critical part of this process.
How Thermal Mass Works In Your Home
Getting a little free heating can go a long way on your utility bill, particularly over the life of a structure. To achieve this goal, you can use passive solar heating. This is a process where homes are strategically built to capture as much sunlight as possible in the form of heat. It is important to understand thermal mass in order to effectively use solar for heating. You can learn enough to build a renewable energy technology system like thermal mass here.
Thermal mass simply refers to any material that absorbs and stores heat. In this case, we are referring to the material that contains the heat inherent in the sunlight and releases it afer the sunlight is no longer reaching it. You may not realize it, but your home already has thermal mass producing heat. Anything exposed to the sun such as furniture or even the floor can act as thermal mass. Unfortunately, it is usually on a pretty small scale.
Often called intentional thermal mass, a passive solar home will have strategically placed materials that are very efficient at absorbing and radiating heat. This is not really and complex as it sounds. Bricks, tile, and masonry are some of the materials included. In certain situations, adobe and clay also work very well.
The thermal mass will be needed in the interior of the home if you have a passive solar home. Often you can accomplish this by strategically placing tile and brick in areas below window that get a lot of sun during the day. The amount of thermal mass you will use is determined by your heating needs. In colder climates, it should be used in bulk while homes in Arizona need only nominal amounts.
It is typical to misunderstand the meaning of the colors of the thermal materials. Logically, it would seem to make sense that the materials need to be dark since dark colors absorb more heat. This is not particularly true in passive solar. It isn't the color that makes the difference but the color. Bricks can be just about any light color, but not white. If you want to avoid a dark, gloomy interior in your home, then this can be a major benefit even if it seems insignificant at first.
If you are trying to harness the power of the sun for heating purposes, you need to get a good grasp of the thermal products you will use. This should give you a leg up on the competition.
~Ralph
Moderator of Ralph's Green Energy Guide
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