Solar Panels Keep Buildings Cool

Tilted solar panels (front), create a stronger cooling efffect than panels flush with the roof. (Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering)

Those solar panels on top of your roof aren’t just providing clean power; they are cooling your house, or your workplace, too,

Keeping Buildings Cool, according to a team of researchers led by Jan Kleissl, a professor of environmental engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

In a study in an upcoming issue of the journal Solar Energy, Kleissl and his team published what they believe are the first peer-reviewed measurements of the cooling benefits provided by solar photovoltaic panels. Using thermal imaging, researchers determined that during the day, a building’s ceiling was 5 degrees Fahrenheit cooler under solar panels than under an exposed roof. At night, the panels help hold heat in, reducing heating costs in the winter.

“Talk about positive side-effects,” said Kleissl.

For more on this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110718151558.htm

Source:  Science Daily / University of Toronto