General background of solar energy utilization, quantity and quality of solar radiation falling on the earth, and technologies on the use of solar energy for heating and cooling buildings are described.
Considering that environmental disruption by consuming fossil fuels and future shortage of energy resources are the major motives to the recent advent of solar energy utilization and reviewing the brief history of the research on the use of solar energy, it is stressed that not only for economical prospect but also for safe and clean environment the use of solar energy as a heat source for heating and cooling buildings must be taken into consideration.
Described next are the solar radiation actually available for heating and cooling buildings and its seasonal and diurnal variations. Irregular and intermittent characteristics of solar radiation as a energy source and the problems related to the actual usage are explained.
As for the technologies of solar heating and cooling, various kinds of collecting system, storing system, heat supplying system and their performances are described for heating and cooling respectively based on the current possible methods. Several examples of solar houses actually built so far are introduced and their outlines and special features are compared.
Finally a consideration is made on the future image of solar heating and cooling which was the core theme discussed at the International Congress-the Sun in the Service of Mankind-held in Paris July 1973.
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