In each issue, we’ll be discussing a technological component of the renewable energy industry. Some issues will highlight some of the cool high tech work that is going on in the industry. But we will also be giving equal attention to low tech solutions to renewable energy questions.

When the subject of renewable energy comes up, most peoples thoughts go towards those ‘sexy’ sources of solar energy – solar electric, solar hot water and wind energy. They are visible – there are large wind farms in Wisconsin, and solar electric arrays are becoming larger and larger as the cost of installation keeps dropping. The appeal (and cost) of these systems lies in their ability to provide immediately usable energy or storing energy, either in battery banks, insulated water tanks or by back-feeding the excess to the electrical grid. Then there is a solar technology that doesn’t quite come to mind as quickly as these other technologies. Solar hot air. While in most applications it may not store energy as the other technologies do, it comes at the most affordable price, and usually at the best price/unit of energy of them all.