Solar Space Heating

We can heat our homes with three types of solar (thermal) solutions. The first solution is a set of well known techniques involving building design, sun orientation of the building, suitable wall materials, strategic glazing... and is called passive solar techniques. The other two solutions are rather immature technologies, one based in solar heated air pumped into the rooms (after being heated by solar panels) and the other based on hot water heated by solar panels (hydronic solar solutions)...

Solar space heating concerns heating our homes/rooms with air or water heated by solar panels, or with passive solar techniques (a set of strategies involving the building design, walls, windows and floors).

Solar Air Heating

Simple solar air heating systems can solve problems of ventilation or seasonal coldness in a room, and do not have activation and deactivation sensors and controls, or storage components. Just blowers and solar panels to heat the air to be pumped into the rooms...

See, for detailed information on these systems: Solar Air Heating Systems

Hydronic Solar space heating technologies

Instead of hot air, solar solutions can use water heated by solar panels... and baseboards or radiant floor heating systems. Besides the solar space heating technologies, there are are other solar technologies with other goals: solar water heating systems, solar PV systems for power generation and solar cooling systems.

See:
-Solar baseboard heating
-Solar radiant heating

Type of Panels used on solar space heating

The type of panels for solar space heating varies with climate and design. Simple solutions can be based on air flat-plate (often unglazed) panels, mainly in moderate climate applications.

More complex systems and hydronic solar space heating solutions have to use liquid flat-plate panels or the more efficiently tube solar panels.

See: Different types of solar panels

Using Passive Solar techniques for solar Space heating

Passive solar techniques are mainly used when building new homes. They require a rigorous building design and materials, high levels of insulation and air sealing, high efficient and well designed windows... Passive solar techniques for solar space heating also involves proper landscape, overhangs, shading strategies (for the summer), proper orientation of the building to the sun, etc.

All these techniques can easily reduce air heating needs to at least 40-50%...
See, on these issues: Passive solar heating, Insulation solutions, Qualified windows.