 |
| In 1995 Minsk Ecoclub decided to develop a simple season universal solar collector with local materials mounted at all existing roofs. Preliminary questioning held in Belarus showed that collector would have a wide application if it’s price would not exceed $10 per square m (average salary in Belarus is about $70/month).
The first collector of 3.5 square m area has been mounted at the summer cottage in v. Zelenoe. The set-up consisted of aluminium empty freon barrel of 120 l, 30 m of black corrugated polyethylene hose, 2 sheets of reinforced glass (for UV hose protection and hotbed effect). Project realization has showed the following advantages of the project:
 solar collector is mounted by the owner’s powers during 1 day, costs about $20;
collector uses direct solar water heating up to 65° C and safe to frost because of hose flexibility;
collector provides the heating of about 200 l of water a day in summer that is enough for a family of 3-4 members, and is equivalent to 1800-2000 Kwh/year or 200 l of mazut saving.
Simplicity, reliability and availability of collector made it very popular among the country population. Recently it is used not only for water heating, but for season solar energy accumulation for heating. At the picture: collector mounting at the straw-clay house in the village Druzhnaia (150 km north from Minsk) built for the Chernobyl settlers by the German charitable organization "Houses instead of Chernobyl". | | |
