Materials Which Absorb Solar Energy

Solar energy is simply energy which comes from the sun's power. This natural energy source can be used for a wide variety of things inside your home. Many people think of using solar energy for their electricity needs, and that is certainly an excellent way to use it. In most cases though, you can actually just use the sun's energy to help heat your home naturally. Doing this does not require the use of solar panels, solar cells, storage batteries, or any complicated grid setup. Of course you'll get much more benefit from setting up an actual solar power system using panels and grids, but if you simply want to start utilizing the natural power of the sun today, there are several ways you can do so.

Essentially all you need to do is set up a way to absorb the heat from the sun. In the winter for example, you can start reducing your electric bill by allowing the sun to supply some of the heat for your home. The easiest way to do this is to just open the curtains and allow the sun to shine into your home during the daylight hours. The sunlight will naturally bring warmth, and items inside your home will actually absorb that warmth too. Any items which help absorb the warmth from the sun will also help your house retain some of that heat after the sun goes down.

You'll have much better results though if you purposely set out to try and absorb as much of the sun's heat as you can each day. And to do this, you simply need to know which types of materials absorb and retain the sun's heat easily.

Most types of metal for example will absorb heat quickly and easily. Some metal gets hot faster than others and releases that heat much more slowly. If you lay a sheet of copper in the sun for example, you'll notice it gets hot quite quickly. Once the sun goes down, the copper will start releasing its heat into the air around it. And this can be used as a natural heating system for your home. You could do the same type of thing with most metals.

Dark colored items also get hot quickly. You may have experienced this yourself in the summertime actually. Getting inside of a vehicle which has black seats will be much hotter to the touch than getting inside of one which has light-colored seats. And you can use this to your advantage when heating your home in the winter time as well. If you have dark colored furniture, then simply positioning them in a location of the room which gets sunlight during the day will allow them to absorb heat. You can also place dark curtains at the window, or position dark pieces of furniture, accents, or decor in the sunlight too.

Other materials which absorb heat very nicely include concrete, brick, Adobe, and water. If you live in a home which has concrete or brick walls for example, those walls will absorb heat from the sun throughout the day and store it. Then as the nighttime coolness creeps in the stored heat will slowly be released which helps maintain a comfortable temperature in your home while using less electricity.

©2008, Kathy Burns-Millyard.