Solar Thermal Energy
Solar thermal energy provides the power for life on earth. Photosynthesis is the energy source for all plant life and, ultimately, all our food.
Most of the other energy requirements of man (for heat, light, power and transportation) are currently fuelled by burning fossil fuels – solar energy captured millions of years ago in oil, gas or coal. The release of high volumes of greenhouse gases from the high rate of burning carbon fuels is causing increasing concern for the balance of the global environment.
The alternative to using fossil fuels for heating is to short cut this circuit and use solar energy captured directly from the sun in summer to heat buildings in winter using solar thermal energy. Solar thermal heating is now possible with this breakthrough with the ICAX inventions of Thermal Banks and Seasonal Heat Transfer.
Solar thermal energy is the ultimate renewable source of energy. Interseasonal heat transfer exploits this resource to heat buildings in winter with solar energy captured six months earlier.
Solar Thermal Energy Storage – Interseasonal Heat Transfer™
Interseasonal Heat Transfer is a form of on site renewable energy that combines the merits of solar thermal collection in summer with heat storage in ThermalBanks to double the efficiency and Coefficient of Performance of heat pumps in winter.
Interseasonal Heat Transfer captures surplus naturally occurring heat from summer sunshine, stores it in ThermalBanks™ in the ground and releases it to heat buildings in winter.
Interseasonal Heat Transfer also captures cold on winter nights, stores this in ThermalBanks™ in the ground and releases it to cool buildings in summer.
An IHT system includes an Asphalt Solar Collector, a ThermalBank to store heat energy, a heat pump and a smart control system mounted on an ICAX Skid.
IHT™ saves over 50% of carbon emissions compared to using a gas boiler for heating.
IHT™ saves over 80% of carbon emissions compared to using standard air conditioning for cooling.
The underlying principles of IHT were demonstrated in the first installation for the Highways Agency on an access road to the Toddington service station on the M1 motorway. The demonstration was independently monitored by TRL Ltd who reported on the success of the demonstration in a detailed report on Toddington IHT results in April 2008.
Solar Space Heating using Interseasonal Heat Transfer™ – Solar heating
Solar Heating is often used to heat water. Interseasonal Heat Transfer allows solar energy captured in the summer to be used for space heating in winter. This is a radical extension to the meaning of Solar Heating, which can now be used to address the much larger need for space heating in winter using cost effective solar energy: Solar Thermal Heating. The economics of running Interseasonal Heat Transfer are further improved by the Renewable Heat Incentive.
Click to understand how IHT works.
See Solar Heating
See RHI
See Space Heating
