Harnessing the sun’s heat to supplement commercial and domestic energy needs is nothing new but is often viewed as a luxury for the wealthy environmentalist.
This perception may soon become a thing of the past.
Ewan Pollock of Cansolair Marketing in Saskatoon sells the Cansolair RA 240 Solar Max heated air generator unit. He believes it can reduce the heating costs of farm homes and shops by 40 percent over two to four years.
He said one solar air-heating unit would supply enough supplemental heated air for a 1,500 sq. foot home at a cost of $2,995 per unit. He recommends using several air-heating units for larger buildings.
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The solar air heaters are marketed as supplemental winter air-heating units that are affordable and environmentally friendly. They were invented in Newfoundland and are manufactured by Cansolair Inc. of Newfoundland.
Each thermostatically controlled solar unit has a 28 sq. foot solar collector. Inside are 15 aluminum tubes made from recycled soda and beer cans. Pollock said the cans are coated on the outside with a special heat absorbent adhesive to increase heat retention.
An electrical air blower collects cool air from inside the building and transfers it to the tubes where it is heated by solar radiation as it passes through the cans.
The heated air is immediately returned to the building through a dryer vent.
The units can be mounted to the wall of a building and feature a convex polycarbonate panel at the top to allow the sun’s heat radiation to hit the solar panel surface from multiple angles, he said.
Each unit is 44 inches wide, 88.5 inches high, four inches thick at the sides and 8.5 inches thick at the centre.
They are typically mounted on the southern wall of a building to maximize the heat radiating from the sun, but mounting them on the roof is also possible, he said.
Will Oddie, manager of Kelln Solar’s solar thermal division, is not convinced solar air-heating systems are always a practical air heating option for farm homes.
He believes solar air heating units are more suitable for industrial uses where a significant amount of additional heated air is needed during the day.
Homeowners do not benefit significantly from the solar heated air generated by the unit unless the house is occupied during the day.
Oddie said the difficulty with solar air heating systems is their inability to store heat for later use.
As a result, solar air heating systems are not as practical and versatile as solar hydronic systems, which typically use liquids such as water to transfer the sun’s heat for use in a building.
A modified solar hydronic system can be used for heating air in a home as well as other domestic purposes requiring energy, said Oddie.
However, he said solar hydronic systems are not as cheap as solar air-heating systems.
Jim Meaney, inventor and manufacturer of the Cansolair RA 240 Solar Max, said his unit has the capacity to go dual purpose.
“This product not only space heats, it preheats ventilation air, … it can heat water, it can even produce electricity,” he said.
However, he has been unable to secure government funding that would help him commercially develop other domestic applications.
Meaney estimates he has sold more than 2,000 units since he started manufacturing in 2001. He builds an average of 300 units per year.
Cansolair Inc. has been in operation since 1994. It manufactures the units’ solar lens and assembles all units for shipping.
