Solar Direct

Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using direct solar energy to heat buildings and water and produce energy.

The sun provides free energy every day. How much energy depends mainly on latitude and to some extent on the climate. The question you ask is to evaluate our use of this energy to heat buildings and water and possibly other uses.

Advantages:

This energy source is free and is completely renewable, since we have known for thousands of years.

Disadvantages:

To exploit this energy we need to use materials and resources and use our ingenuity to provide technical solutions to economic and physical location. There is a capital cost and maintenance costs may be.

The effective use of energy can occur during the day then there may be problems of energy storage during the night.

The benefits are the most important is warm and sunny, but the need is often more energy to cooler latitudes, north or south.

Methods

What are the methods we can usea Where are the different methods are most appropriatea

Buildings

For buildings we need to consider internal control climate and hot water supply and for these two, we can use methods of passive and active. It is also much easier to incorporate appropriate provisions in domestic construction, commercial and public news, even if significant improvements can be made to existing buildings.

Passive methods: The four methods for national construction in the northern hemisphere using the greenhouse effect are:
windows facing south (large windows on the south, little or no on the north side) the other elevations, possibly with solar shading or solar power and thermal insulating glass.
South facing roof space: sloping roof usually used as a solar collector. You may need small fan and conduit to circulate warm air.
Conservatory: south side glass volume.
Trombe wall. South glazing masonry wall or heavy concrete wall painted black.

And for large buildings can use a wall to find the frozen climate outer wall with large air space between the inner and outer (inner wall may be fully or partially glazed or incorporate thermal mass to store heat)

Active methods using solar photovoltaic or solar collectors with water pumped to storage or direct use. thermosiphon systems, when the reservoir is placed above the collector, do not need to pump and are therefore considered as a passive system. Standard units are used for supplying hot water through the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The use of thermal chimneys is also a passive control method anchient internal climate with modern practices.

This is a very vast subject and I have only touched on a brief overview. We could also discuss the land away, construction methods, sustainability, methods and technology to low for emerging third world such as solar cookers and all kinds of topics.

Although all the above information is from my personal knowledge, I used references in the website of the past like Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia) the Energy Trust (a non-profit Trust, based London) and low-cost energy saving
Technology: http://www.energygreed.com/. This site offers a guide to build your own network of solar and wind energy, with sources for batteries and claims free for you to save 80% on electricity costs. In the future, I think we'll have a better shot that gas boilers are not only more efficient as condensing boilers, but combined heating and power generation, so that you can sell your surplus electricity to the national grid in Great Britain or the power utility company in the United States and Canada. In the meantime, we must rely on the meadow.