#solar thermal is more punk than solar PV

[aetherictree]

Playing around with "solarpunk without photovoltaics".

Nearly all domestic energy use is to produce heat. Heating and hot water of course, but appliances as well mostly turn electricity to heat -- washers, dryers, dishwashers etc. Rather than do some convulated system where we generate electricity and then use a heat pump to turn it to heat, we could just collect the heat directly and use that.

Heat is fairly easy to store. Insulate a tank of rock or water and you're set. Far less resource intensive than batteries, with a system that can be maintained by local mechanics and built out of scrap. Community self reliance, rather than dependence on globocorps with long supply chains.

Cheap heat might favour communal areas. You can cook food with 60-80c heat (sous vide), but installing such systems for individual homes might not be worth it. For a cafeteria however... Same goes for boiling vessels for hot drinks. A heat pump based system to produce near boiling water would make little sense in a home, but if it's shared between a few hundred people it might.

By focusing so much on electricity production, we've missed what we need the electricity *for*.

#solarpunk #solar thermal #solar thermal punk #plausible futures #solar thermal is more punk than solar PV #solar energy #sustainability