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Solar hot water describes active and passive solar technologies that utilize the freely abundant solar thermal energy in order to heat water for a desired application.
It is one of the most efficient ways to heat water (in terms of energy/waste), as it requires no energy conversion, unlike electric-resistance heating or fuel burning. It is a simple transfer and concentration of heat energy from one place to another. (See Wikipedia:Heat transfer.) Another example of this technology's efficiency is it runs on solar energy, which is free, and only dependent on the technology used, and its cost and efficiency. In other words, the energy is free, only the collection, conversion, and storage devices contribute to the cost of the system.
If you have ever felt hot water trickle out of a garden hose that has been sitting in the sun, you’ve experienced solar hot water in action.
Essentially, a solar hot water system is made up of a solar thermal collector, a well-insulated storage container, and a system for transferring the heat from the collector to the container vis-à-vis a fluid medium, which in some cases is the water itself.Selected quote
The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.
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