You can heat the house with the help of sunlight, but electricity has nothing to do with it

Today, country houses can not be heatedonly with the help of coal and gas stoves, but also at the expense of solar energy. And this is not about solar batteries that generate electricity to power the heaters, but about so-called solar collectors, which focus the sunlight at one point and directly heat the water used to heat houses. Thanks to scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, these devices have ceased to lose the accumulated heat, and, accordingly, have become better to heat the room. And all it was necessary to change one small detail.

Solar collectors are made up of manyreflectors that focus sunlight on the surface of the heat absorbing material. Between the reflectors and the material there is a vacuum space with transparent glass, which helps to preserve the accumulated heat without interfering with the sunlight to penetrate inside the device. Unfortunately, part of the accumulated heat gradually disappears through the glass layer, so manufacturers have long been looking for a more hermetic material to hold heat.

Water heaters will be better than they were

The material was great for this role.developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In essence, it is an ultralight gel, between particles of which there is the maximum possible amount of air and a minimum of liquid - in science the class of such materials is called aerogels. Almost without releasing heat out, the transparent material allows 95% of the sunlight to pass through.

Improved by the above methodIt was tested on the roof of the university and showed excellent results. When the outside air temperature was zero, the solar collector was able to heat the heat absorbing material to 200 degrees Celsius and maintain the temperature at the same level.

Sample of a new type of airgel

In the future, such a design may becomeofficial, and people will be able to cheaply and safely for themselves and the environment to heat their homes. New device models are likely to be able to cope even with very large spaces.

It seems that in the future solar energy willused everywhere. In addition to space heating, it can be used to provide home electricity. Roofs with solar panels are already being proposed by Tesla - one square meter of such tiles costs about $ 220.

We advise you to read: Tesla began installing solar roofs for its employees.

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