Going solar will not be a replacement solution for all the heat you use in your home, but it will dramatically reduce the amount, says Brian Krause. He is the owner of Woodstar Energy, a provider of construction services for home remodeling and renewable energy serving the Northwest Chicago suburbs, and talks here about the benefits of solar heating system services.
When you take a look at your home’s energy use, you will find that heating is the largest component of what you use natural gas and electricity for. And when you finally decide that you want to impact the way you use energy, you’ll discover that a great way to go is to go solar.
If you take a look at the average home, typically 29%of your energy bill goes toward heating costs, according to Energy Star, which sets the international standard for energy-efficient products. Obviously, this is definitely one area where you can make a big impact fast if you decide to change the way things are done.
Offset Your Heating Needs
One great way to this is to take a look at offsetting your heating needs by going with solar energy. The way in which this works is using the existing HVAC structure in your home by putting solar panels on top of your house. You then pump the solar fluid that gets heated within these panels and it then gets transferred into the existing heating system. By doing this, you can offset a large part of the heating bill, even in a cold place like Chicago, where we are based.
One concern people have is, “Is there enough sunlight to make use of solar energy in an area like Chicago, or throughout most of the United States in general?” The simple answer is yes. When you take a look worldwide, Germany has the largest installed solar technologies of any country in the world. They have about as sun much sun shining on them as Anchorage, Alaska does, which is the furthest most northern part of the United States by a long shot.
Reducing Amount of Heat Used
The way in which solar heating works is that panels are on the roof, and that will offset a portion of your furnace use by adding heat either into a radiant or a forced air system. In doing this, it is generally not going to replace 100% of your heat. However, it will offset a large percentage. So, really, the main thing we are trying to do is reduce the amount of heat that you are using.
When we take a look at the size of the solar system you might need, what we do here at Woodstar is we take a look at 12 or 24 months of your natural gas bills, or your electric bills, if you have electric heat. We then try to take a base load of how much that is being used, then design a system to fit that.
Give us a call or drop us an email to discuss different solar heating options. In addition, we can come to your home, take a look at what your existing systems are today and make some recommendations, and also get a quote together for you.
