Build your own solar thermal panel for £2

The Sietech has published some shockingly easy instructions on how to build your own solar thermal panel for next to nothing. The £2 price tag assumes that you can recycle the back grill from a refrigerator, and some window glass, but a visit to your local rubbish tip may well yield up the goods. Aside from that, all you need is a rubber floor mat, some foil backing, tape, pliers, some plastic tubing and a bucket of water. (via Groovy Green)

Basically, you make a sandwich of the foil, mat, grill and window glass, run the tubing inside, seal it all up with duct tape, and set the cold water siphoning through the tubing so that it pours out into another bucket after it's been heated.

A word of warning, this panel works VERY WELL. We tested it on a very sunny day and within seconds the water coming out of the panel was hot enough TO SCALD. Not bad for such a simple and inexpensive recycling project! This entire project cost less than five dollars, as I already had the screws, and the duct tape. The only thing I purchased was the air hose, which cost $3.76.. [GT]