Solar energy harvest can extend gardening season

Published: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 9:05 p.m. MST

As NASA and other agencies probe deep into space, one of the things they are looking for is planets that might support life. While there are many different necessities for life as we know it to exist, one that is absolutely critical is the sun, or star as it is called in another solar system

The sun is the basis for life. If the sun is too close, the planet gets too hot and burns up. If it is too far away, it would be too cold to support life as the planet would be a constant deep freeze.

In addition to providing heat, the sun also provides light. Light energy is critical for plants to grow. If plants did not grow, there would be nothing for animals to eat and we would die.

While ancient civilizations did not understand the scientific principles of photosynthesis, they knew the sun was critical to their life. Many worshipped the sun as a deity and adopted many rituals in hopes of influencing the power of the sun in their life.

While our reliance on the sun to grow our plants in northern Utah is automatic in the summertime, in the winter it takes special attention to capture and utilize the sun to grow our plants. It might be as simple as a few interior plants on the windowsill, as inexpensive as a cold frame or as extensive as a large solar greenhouse, but all depend on the sun to get plants to grow.

Solar devices take many forms, and while all greenhouses are solar, the difference between a solar greenhouse and conventional ones is that solar structures collect and store the heat that the sun radiates during the day and then release that heat on cloudy days or at night.

Solar designs have three basics. They must maximize South-facing glazing, they must have an efficient way to store the heat and they must minimize heat lost with good construction techniques.

To make a solar greenhouse function efficiently, it is important to size the collection system to the greenhouse size. In our climate, a greenhouse needs between 0.65 and 1.5 square feet of South-facing double glass greenhouse collecting surface for each square foot of floor area. This varies according to the climate and the storage media.

Storing solar heat is somewhat difficult because the heat is almost always collected inside the growing structure. That being the case, the temperature cannot rise above the level that is best for growing plants. While solar heat collectors could operate efficiently at temperatures between 150 and 170 degrees, it would be far too warm to grow plants.

In addition to collecting heat, storing heat is critical. Storing heat requires storage media and the two most common are water and masonry. Each has advantages when trying to grow plants.

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700213575/Solar-energy-harvest-can-extend-gardening-season.html?s_cid=rss-48

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