Solar Construction

[Dano]

Anyone out there with experience in solar home construction? I'm in the initial planning stages of designing a home out in Arizona which is off the grid and water requires to be trucked in. Been doing alot of research(The Web is Great) and am fast becoming knowledgable(sp?-need spellcheck) but being an Easterner (Maryland) looking for some "Tricks" of the trade.

[Rich]

I've done a couple study papers in college on solar, passive solar, etc. Been awhile though - and of course I've thrown the papers away. I'll have to look back through some of my old stuff and see what I can find. I made a solar heater out of black painted insulation and some copper tubing - got a rise in heat of about 10 degrees.. haha.

[roger g]

Many many years ago I read about solar furnaces and they have been around for eons but I never see them. Basically what you have looks like a TV sattelite dish which is parabolic and all the sun rays focus on one spot. Headlights work in reverse whereas the light is started in one small spot and spread out into a larger beam.
Anyways the focal point becomes super hot ( like laser hot) similar to a tankless hot water heater. Technically speaking it is really old fashioned but it does need a tracking system to follow the sun.

Roger

[grumpydasmurf]

One of my friends has a solar hot water heater.