American Solar Installs Large Heat Recovery System at Hill AFB

Annandale, VA—American Solar, Inc. (ASI) announced today the company completed the installation of 20,000 square feet of solar heating systems at Hill AFB in Ogden, UT.

American Solar installed one of the largest solar heat recovery system in the US. The system captures solar heat from the existing walls and roof of 2 buildings.

The first building is a six acre medical depot with corrugated brown siding and a light brown metal roof. American Solar’s system recovers solar heated air from the siding and roof. The system delivers the heated air to the building for space heating and for year round heating of a large paint booth. The total solar roof and wall surface area used for solar heating is approximately 13,000 square feet.

The second building is an F-16 and A-10 aircraft maintenance hangar over 500’ long and 180’ wide. The hanger has dark brown corrugated metal siding. American Solar installed solar heat recovery fans inside the hangar to direct the solar heated air from the existing walls into the occupied hangar bays. The ASI project installed 17 solar heat recovery fans to pull heat from the southeast and southwest facing walls.

American Solar connected both systems to the base energy management and control system for monitoring and control of the fans.

Despite the constrained work environment around the aircraft and the complex controls and monitoring system, the cost for the installed systems was about $7 per square foot. This is approximately one half to one third the cost of a newly installed system with new solar siding or roofing. Despite the low cost, tests showed that the existing brown wall could deliver solar air at temperatures of 50 degrees F above outside air temperatures.

About American Solar Inc.
American Solar, Inc. designs, develops and installs innovative solar air heating systems. These systems produce heat at lower cost than most fossil fuel, electric and solar power sources.

ASI’s systems use the natural heating properties of metal. Sunlight hitting the metal surface heats the surface, which then heats the air under the surface. A small fan moves the solar-heated air through the system for a broad array of uses in buildings, commercial facilities, and agricultural or industrial processes.

With these innovative technologies, customers can use solar heat in several new ways. Customers with applications that require year round energy loads and that use high-cost heating sources benefit the most. The company’s customers have included The Pentagon, Dulles Airport, US Geological Survey, National Institutes of Health, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and James Madison University.

For further information, visit American Solar's Web site: www.americansolar.com or contact ASI at 703-425-0923 or by email at info@americansolar.com.