Solar ventilation air heating is the use of a solar collector to ventilate air. Many industrial buildings contain contaminant producing processes, where the contaminated air must be removed and replaced with large volumes of fresh outdoor air. Also, most other buildings require large quantities of fresh outdoor air to maintain adequate indoor air quality for occupants. Examples include offices, apartments, and institutional buildings. Modern houses often require that outdoor air be directly brought in and heated. Air-based solar collectors can be used to heat, either partially or completely, outdoor ventilation air for homes with only 2 m² of collector area. Also, the collector can work well with a heat recovery ventilator by reducing its defrost cycle.

 

In many other countries, the most common collector used for ventilation air heating is the unglazed perforated plate solar collector because of its low cost, high efficiency, and ease of installation.