Is there a good way to store solar heat, and release it slowly over time ??
Question:
Answer:
I read about a solar power plant that was using a salt to store the heat. The solar heat melted the salt and it was piped to the boiler to heat steam to drive the turbines.
Rocks are good, they hold the heat for a long time.
I say water is best for low level heat. You can use a heat pump to get a lot of heat out of water before it freezes.
It depends on what you need the heat for also.
To heat a house? Rocks or water.
To generate electricity? I think salt.
For a water heater? Well, water!
Interesting though, President Bush has a house in Texas, it uses a geothermal heat pump. In cold weather, heat pump grabs heat from deep in the earth and pumps it to the house. In cold weather the heat pump pumps the heat down into the ground.
Recharge batteries using ordinary solar cells
Classically rock walls, modern solar collection of heat is using a "solar pond" if you have a lot of salt. their are lots of solutions, lots of mass is the easiest.
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