In today’s business and political climate, intelligent building owners are searching for new ways to adhere to government regulations and tenant demands. Searching for more environmentally conscious ways of supplying energy to your buildings presents a challenge.

You’ll no doubt have heard about the many benefits of wind technology, but you might not have heard about solar heating tubes: the other green energy source. The sun is the most powerful energy source on the planet. Every day, 365 days per year in most environments, the sun gives us several hours of ambient heat. Unfortunately most of the energy it supplies goes unused, while instead we use carbon fuels, which are rapidly running out, and only becoming more and more expensive. Things will only get worse if we continue to burn fossil fuels, so it’s time to switch to using green energy, while the governments of many states and countries are offering financial incentives.

Using solar heating tubes to heat a building comes with several advantages, for both building owners and tenants. Even if solar energy is only used to heat the buildings water the savings can be enormous, depending on how much warm water the building uses. Naturally, buildings with differing purposes will use vastly different quantities of hot water, but hot water is used for one reason or another in practically every building, whether it’s tenants taking showers, washing their clothes, washing dishes, or even just washing their hands. Numerous properties also use radiant heat, using coils of hot water underneath the flooring to heat the rooms. If your buildings are heated in this way, you’ll be able to save a lot of money by cutting deep into your oil, gas, and electrical use for heating your buildings.

In places like New York solar energy has always been regarded as ineffective as the weather is changeable and there is often not enough direct sunlight for solar panels to be effective. Solar heating tubes, on the other hand, work differently and are able to capture much more sunlight. The solar heating tubes can be positioned in such a way that they can absorb the sun’s energy during all daylight hours, as they have a larger surface area than conventional solar panels, which only receive optimal solar power when the sun shines directly onto their flat surface. Coupled with the fact that the energy is then kept inside copper rods inside of a vacuum sealed tube, providing perfect insulation and allowing almost none of the energy to escape. In fact the tubes are so well insulated that the outside of the tubes remain cool even though the copper rods inside of them can reach over 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The introduction of these two factors allows building owners to use solar power even in climates where it was once though to be impractical, like those where there is much cloud cover and colder environments. If you are a landlord in New York green energy is now a practical alternative.

Solar heating tubes are one green energy source that you will want to take advantage of. Choosing the alternative green technology, the solar heating tube, won’t just reduce your carbon footprint and protect the o-zone, it also saves you a lot of money in the long run. When you look at it that way, it’s very difficult to come up with a good reason not to use solar heating tubes.

Craig Axelrod is VP of Business Development for Emmy Energy, a New York solar power system operation installing solar heating tubes solar pv systems & green products throughout the Northeast.