Editing Solar energy (section)

===Process heat===
{{Main|Solar pond|Salt evaporation pond|Solar furnace}}
Solar concentrating technologies such as parabolic dish, trough and Scheffler reflectors can provide process heat for commercial and industrial applications. The first commercial system was the [[Solar Total Energy Project]] (STEP) in Shenandoah, Georgia, US where a field of 114 parabolic dishes provided 50% of the process heating, air conditioning and electrical requirements for a clothing factory. This grid-connected cogeneration system provided 400&nbsp;kW of electricity plus thermal energy in the form of 401&nbsp;kW steam and 468&nbsp;kW chilled water and had a one-hour peak load thermal storage.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Shenandoah Solar Total Energy Project|journal=NASA Sti/Recon Technical Report N |volume=83 |pages=25168 |author1=Stine, W.B.  |author2=Harrigan, R.W. |name-list-style=amp |publisher=John Wiley|url=http://www.powerfromthesun.net/Book/chapter16/chapter16.html|access-date=20 July 2008|bibcode=1982STIN...8325168L |year=1982 }}</ref> Evaporation ponds are shallow pools that concentrate dissolved solids through [[evaporation]]. The use of evaporation ponds to obtain salt from seawater is one of the oldest applications of solar energy. Modern uses include concentrating brine solutions used in leach mining and removing dissolved solids from waste streams.<ref>Bartlett (1998), pp. 393–94</ref> 

[[Clothes line]]s, [[clotheshorse]]s, and clothes racks dry clothes through evaporation by wind and sunlight without consuming electricity or gas. In some states of the United States legislation protects the "right to dry" clothes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Right to Dry Legislation in New England and Other States|publisher=Connecticut General Assembly|author=Thomson-Philbrook, Julia|url=http://www.cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-R-0042.htm|access-date=27 May 2008}}</ref> Unglazed transpired collectors (UTC) are perforated sun-facing walls used for preheating ventilation air. UTCs can raise the incoming air temperature up to {{convert|22|C-change}} and deliver outlet temperatures of {{convert|45|-|60|C}}.<ref name="UTC">{{cite web|title=Solar Buildings (Transpired Air Collectors – Ventilation Preheating)|publisher=National Renewable Energy Laboratory|url=http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy06osti/29913.pdf|access-date=29 September 2007}}</ref> The short payback period of transpired collectors (3 to 12&nbsp;years) makes them a more cost-effective alternative than glazed collection systems.<ref name="UTC"/> As of 2003, over 80 systems with a combined collector area of {{convert|35000|m2}} had been installed worldwide, including an {{convert|860|m2|abbr=on}} collector in [[Costa Rica]] used for drying coffee beans and a {{convert|1300|m2|abbr=on}} collector in [[Coimbatore]], India, used for drying marigolds.<ref name="Leon 2006"/>{{needs update|date=October 2021}}