Solar Heating Tubes: The Other Green Energy

In today's business and political environment, smart landlords are looking for ways to adhere to government regulations and the demands of tenants. Finding more environmentally conscious ways to heat your buildings presents is not easy.

We've all heard about wind technology, and the great advances that are being made in that field, but allow me to introduce you to solar heating tubes: the other green energy source. There is no better, or more untapped, source of green energy than the sun. Every day, 365 days per year The sun gives us energy in the form of light and heat all year long. Yet most of the energy it supplies goes to waste, while instead we burn carbon fuels, which are quickly running out, and only becoming more and more expensive. The situation will only get worse for those who continue to use fossil fuels, so it's time to put all the newly developed green technology to use, while the governments of many states and countries are willing to subsidize the costs.

Employing solar heating tubes to heat a building can have several benefits, for both property owners and tenants. Even if solar energy is used only to heat the buildings water the savings can be considerable, depending on the buildings hot water consumption. Needless to say, buildings with differing purposes will use different volumes of warm water, but hot water is used in one way or another in almost every building, whether it's tenants taking showers, doing their laundry, washing dishes, or using warm water for general cleaning purposes. Most properties also employ radiant heat, using coils of hot water underneath the floor boards to heat the whole building. If this is the case with your buildings, you'll be able to save a lot of money by reducing the amount of oil, gas or electricity you use to heat your buildings.

Solar heating tubes represent a new approach to solar energy and are much more efficient than standard solar panels. In places like New York solar energy is typically not the best way to harness green energy as the climate is so changeable. However, solar heating tubes will continue to be effective even through the winter months. The solar heating tubes can be positioned in such a way that they can harvest solar energy throughout the day, as the sun's rays will be striking the surface of the cylinder during all daylight hours, as opposed to flat solar panels, which require direct sunlight to work effectively. Coupled with the fact that the energy is then kept inside copper rods inside of a vacuum-sealed tube, which allows very little of the energy to escape. The tubes are so well insulated, in fact that the surfaces of the tubes may be cool even while inside the copper rods can reach well over 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The combination of these two recent advances in solar technology allows landlords to make use of solar power in cooler climates. If you are a landlord in New York green energy is now a practical option.

This really is one green energy source that you would be a fool not to use. Using the other green technology, the solar heating tube, will not only reduce your carbon footprint and help save the planet, it also saves you a lot of money in the long run. When you put those two things together, it's very difficult to come up with a good reason not to use solar heating tubes.


Craig Axelrod is a partner for Emmy Energy, a New York solar power system company delivering solar heating tube systems solar power systems & clean energy systems throughout the North East.