NATURAL GAS SAVINGS USING SOLAR HEATING

The paper presents the possibility of solar heating as a way of natural gas savings. Solar heating is ideally used in our climate area, considering a large number of sunny days and relatively high average temperatures in Croatia, resulting in higher efficiency of heating systems. The advantage of solar heating, compared to other methods (such as heating with natural gas), is in its environmental acceptability, and also in its partial autonomy, respectively in its applicability, without public utilities. Solar system, applied for one building heating, can save an average of 50-60% annual energy needs. During the summer months a conventional heating system for hot water can work on a minimum energy needs or can be totally excluded, and thus eliminate harmful emissions (CO(2)), which occur as a by-product of burning conventional fuels. Using solar energy to produce thermal energy makes it possible to save considerable financial resources. Repayment of this system can be observed through the reduction of energy consumption (e.g. natural gas) during the preparation of consumable hot water (CHW) and/or space heating.