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Solar heating
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solar heating is the usage of solar energy to provide process, space or water heating. The heating of water is covered in solar hot water. Solar heating design is divided into two groups:
- Active solar heating uses pumps which move air or a liquid from the solar collector into the building or storage area.
- Passive solar heating does not require electrical or mechanical equipment, and may rely on the design and structure of the house to collect, store and distribute heat throughout the building (passive solar building design).
Solar heating also refers to the heating of any objects, including buildings, cars, hats, through solar radiation. Solar heating depends on the solar radiation, surface area, surface reflectance, surface emissivity, ambient temperature, and thermal convection from wind. With most all objects on Earth, solar heating reaches a state of temperature homeostasis as the heat imparted by the sun is offset by the heat given off through reflection, radiation, and convection. White objects stay dramatically cooler than other objects because the most important variables are characteristics of the surface, reflectance, emissivity, convection and surface area. Silvery objects get hot even though they are excellent reflectors because they are very poor in heat emission. Human skin, and many other living surfaces, like tree leaves, have near perfect emissivity (~1.0), and so stay pretty cool. A perfect sunscreen is a dye that perfectly absorbs, with high emissivity, or perfectly reflects, ultraviolet and infrared while being transparent in visible light.
