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Heating of the windtower itself can heat the air inside (making it a solar chimney), so that it rises and pulls air out of the top of the house, creating a draft. This effect can be enhanced with a heat source at the bottom of the windtower (such as humans, ~80 Watts each [citation needed]), but this heats the house and makes it less ...
Earth-air heat exchangers appear best suited for air pretreatment rather than for full heating or cooling. Pretreatment of air for an air source heat pump or ground-source heat pump often provides the best economic return on investment, with simple payback often achieved within one year after installation.
The size of the heat-absorbing surface is more important than the diameter of the chimney. A large surface area allows for more effective heat exchange with the air necessary for heating by solar radiation. Heating of the air within the chimney will enhance convection, and hence airflow through the chimney.
In climates where freezing is likely, a heat transfer fluid similar to an automotive antifreeze solution may be used instead of water, or in a mixture with water. If a heat transfer fluid is used, a heat exchanger is typically employed to transfer heat from the solar collector fluid to a hot water storage tank. The most common absorber design ...
Both sources of heat and sources of cooling (such as fountains and subterranean heat reservoirs) were used to drive air circulation, and buildings were designed to encourage or exclude drafts, according to climate and function. Public bathhouses were often particularly sophisticated in their heating and cooling.
The stack effect is used both in traditional buildings and modern green architecture. Examples of traditional usage include the wind towers common in Middle Eastern architecture, which capture and direct cooler breezes into the building while expelling hot air to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures. [9]
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The solar updraft tower (SUT) is a design concept for a renewable-energy power plant for generating electricity from low temperature solar heat. Sunshine heats the air beneath a very wide greenhouse-like roofed collector structure surrounding the central base of a very tall chimney tower.