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Solar Heating Systems - Status and Recent Developments SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS - STATUS AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Werner Weiss AEE INTEC, Arbeitsgemeinschaft ERNEUERBARE ENERGIE Institute for Sustainable Technologies A-8200 Gleisdorf, Feldgasse 19, Phone.:+43-3112-5886, E-mail: [email protected] Abstract – The paper gives a worldwide overview of the dissemination and major markets for solar heating systems. It also shows the contribution of solar plants to the supply of energy and the CO2 emissions avoided as a result of operating these plants. Furthermore the paper gives an overview of recent system developments in the field of solar combisystems for hot water and space heating as well as in the field of large-scale solar heating systems for housing developments. Since the architectural integration of solar thermal collectors plays a major role concerning the broad acceptance of these systems, recent developments in façade integration are described. Finally promising new developments are presented in the field of solar heat for industrial applications. 1. INTRODUCTION The increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the global warming and climatic change associated with it, represent one of the greatest environmental and in the future also one of the greatest social dangers of our time. The anthropogenic reasons for this impending change in the climate can for the greater part be put down to the use of energy and the combustion of fossil primary sources of energy, and the emission of CO2 associated with this. To set the course towards a sustainable energy future, it is necessary to look for solutions which are based on renewable energy. Today, the world’s energy supply is based on the non- renewable sources of energy: oil, coal, natural gas and uranium, which together cover about 82% of the global Figure 1: Per-capita emissions of carbon into the primary-energy requirements. The remaining 18% is atmosphere required to meet climate stabilisation divided into approximately 2/3 biomass and 1/3 agreements with a doubling of the world population hydropower. levels. According to many experts the effective protection of the climate for future generations will demand at least a 2. ACHIEVEMENTS - SOLAR THERMAL 50% reduction in the worldwide anthropogenic emission COLLECTOR AREA IN OPERATION of greenhouse gases in the next 50 to 100 years. With due consideration to common population growth scenarios According to a study of the IEA Solar Heating and and assuming a simultaneity criterion for CO2-emissions Cooling Programme (Weiss, W., Faninger, G., 2002) the from fossil fuels, an average per-capita reduction in the installed collector area in the 22 IEA SHC member yield in industrial countries of approximately 90% will be countries – including the USA, Canada, the European required. This means 1/10 of the current per-capita yield Union, Japan, Australia and Mexico - equalled around 58 of CO2. million square meters at the end of the year 2000. Of this, 17 million square meters was accounted for by unglazed A reduction of CO2 emissions on the scale presented collectors, which are used mainly to heat swimming will, however, demand conversion to a sustained supply pools, and 40 million square meters of flat-plate and of energy, which is based on the use of renewable energy evacuated tube collectors, which are used to prepare hot with a high proportion of direct solar energy use. water and for space heating. Air collectors were installed If the direct use of solar energy for heating and cooling to an extent of 1 million square meters. These are used purposes via solar collectors is to make a significant for drying agricultural products and to a lesser extent for contribution to the energy supply in future, it is necessary space heating. that a broad variety of different types of systems are developed and established in the market. If one observes the use of solar thermal energy it study, are to be found in China (4 mill. m²), India (2 mill. becomes clear that it greatly varies in the different m²) and Israel (400.000 m²)1 (Staiß, F., 2003). countries respective economic regions. In North America (USA and Canada) swimming pool heating is dominant Percentage Change in Annual Installed Flat Plate and Evacuated Tube with 15 million square meters of unglazed collectors Collector Area Between the Years 1999 and 2000 while in Europe (9.7 million square meters) and Japan 250 (11.7 million square meters) plants with flat-plate and 200 evacuated tube collectors mainly used to prepare hot 150 water and for space heating are dominant. 100 [%] Total: Glazed flat plate and evacuated tube water collectors by economic region in 2000 50 14.000.000 0 11.752.489 12.000.000 -50 10.739.509 9.694.920 Italy Spain Japan Turkey France Austria Mexico Finland Norway Greece Sweden Belgium 10.000.000 Portugal Germany Denmark Switzerland Netherlands New Zealand 7.658.600 States United 8.000.000 KingdomUnited 6.000.000 Figure 3: Percentage Change in Annual Installed Flat Collector area [m²] Plate and Evacuated Tube Collector Area Between the 4.000.000 Years 1999 and 2000 2.000.000 0 The calculated annual collector yield of all recorded United States + Japan Europe Others 2 Canada systems in the 20 Member countries of the IEA SHC Programme is approximately 24,367 GWh (87,721 TJ). This corresponds to an oil equivalent of 3.9 billion litres Figure 2: Glazed flat plate and evacuated tube collectors and an annual avoidance of 10.7 million tons of CO2. in operation by economic region in the year 2000 (Weiss, W., Faninger, G., 2002) 2.1 The contribution of solar thermal energy to the Focusing on the installed flat-plate and evacuated tube overall heat demand in Europe collectors through the year 2000, Greece, Austria and Since the beginning of the 1990s, the European solar Turkey are in the lead with 264 m², 195 m², 113 m² per market has undergone considerable development. As the 1000 inhabitants respectively. They are followed by figures from the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Japan, Denmark and Germany with collector areas Programme (Weiss, W., Faninger, G., 2002) and the between 93 and 34 m² per 1000 inhabitants. German Solar Energy Association (Stryi-Hipp, 2000) confirm, sales of flat-plate collectors recorded a yearly With regard to the heating of swimming pools with average growth of 17% between 1994 and 2000. This 2 unglazed collectors, Austria leads with 73 m² ahead of the meant that while 480,000 m of collector area was USA with 52 m² and Switzerland with 31 m² per 1000 installed across Europe during 1994, by 2000, the annual 2 inhabitants. In fourth to sixth place we find Canada, rate for installations was around 1.17 million m collector Germany and the Netherlands with collector areas area, meaning that the rate had more than doubled within between 6 and 16 m² per 1000 inhabitants. a period of six years. The installed collector area in Europe was around 11.4 Analysing the market development from 1999 and 2000 million square metres at the end of 2000. Of this, 1.7 in the field of plants for the preparation of hot water and million square metres was accounted for by unglazed space heating it can be seen that the market for flat plate collectors, which are used in the main to heat swimming and evacuated tube collectors grew from 2,025,384 m² in pools, and 9.7 million square metres by flat plate and the year 1999 to 2,285,797 m² in the year 2000. This evacuated tube collectors used to prepare hot water and corresponds to a growth of 13%. The markets that for space heating. underwent the greatest growth between 1999 and 2000 Considering the installed flat-plate and evacuated tube included Mexico at 226%, Sweden at 99%, Spain at 65%, collectors up to the end of 2000, then Greece and Austria Germany at 47% and France at 42%. The countries with are in the lead with 264 m² and 198 m² respectively per stagnating markets were Japan, Italy, Norway and 1000 inhabitants. They are followed by Denmark with 46 2 Turkey. Decreasing markets were recorded in Denmark at m² per 1000 inhabitants, Switzerland with 37 m per 1000 -16%, Switzerland at -11%, Portugal at -6%, and the USA and the Netherlands at -4%. 1 Figures from 1999 At this juncture it should be mentioned that huge solar 2 All water based systems excl. air based systems. Since the dat abase of thermal markets, which are not yet included in the IEA the applications of air collectors is insufficient, the contribution of air collectors to the energy supply and CO2 reduction was not calculated. inhabitants and Germany with 34 m² per 1000 inhabitants. Solar heating systems for combined domestic hot water preparation and space heating, called “solar 300 combisystems” are essentially the same as solar water heaters when considering the collectors and the transport 250 of the produced heat to the storage device. But solar 200 combisystems are more complex than solar domestic hot 150 water systems, as there is more interaction with extra subsystems. And these interactions deeply affect the 100 overall performance of the solar part of the system. The [m² / 1000 inhabitants] 1000 / [m² 50 general complexity of solar combisystems has led to a 0 large number of widely differing system designs, which Italy do not necessarily reflect local climate or local practice. Spain Austria France Norway Greece Finland Sweden Belgium Portugal Denmark Germany The solar contribution, that is, the part of the heating Switzerland demand met by solar energy, varies from 10% for some United Kingdom United The Netherlands systems up to 100% for others, depending on the size of Figure 4: Total installed flat plate and evacuated tube the solar collector, the storage volume, the hot water collector area per thousand inhabitants in the year 2000 consumption, the heat load of the building, and the climate.
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