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Solar Energy For Homes |
A "passive" solar house provides cooling and heating to keep the home comfortable without the use of mechanical equipment. This style of construction results in homes that respond to the environment.
For passive heating and cooling, the plan of the house, careful site selection and planning, construction materials, building features and other aspects of the home are designed to collect, store and distribute the sun's heat in winter; and to block the sun's rays in summer. Passive solar houses can be built in any architectural style and in any part of the country.
The following techniques use passive solar strategies to provide heat:
Direct Gain is radiant heat resulting from sunlight admitted directly to the living spaces through south-facing windows, which warms the interior surfaces (walls, furniture, floors, etc.). For direct gain, the south-facing window area must be sized for the climate, the type of window used and the amount of thermal mass in the home.
Graphics courtesy of North Carolina Solar Center.
Indirect Gain In a design that employs indirect gain, an attached sunspace or Trombe wall collects heat from the sun before transferring it to other spaces within the home. The air heated in a sunspace circulates naturally or with the aid of fans to other rooms.
Thermal Mass is any material in the home that absorbs and stores heat. Concrete, brick, tile and other masonry materials are the most common choices for thermal mass in a passive solar home, these materials absorb and release heat slowly and are easily and inexpensively integrated into the house design. They are most effective when dark colored and located in direct sunlight. The addition of thermal mass allows saved solar energy to heat the house at night or on cloudy days. The combination increases the performance and energy-saving characteristics of the home, generally for only a modest cost increase.
The following techniques use passive solar strategies to provide cooling:
Passive solar cooling can reduce or even eliminate the need for air conditioning in homes. At its simplest, passive cooling includes overhangs for south-facing windows, few windows on the west, shade trees, thermal mass and cross ventilation. Some of the same strategies that help to heat a home in the winter also cool it in the summer. For example, with a well-designed overhang, the south-facing windows that admit the low-angled rays of the winter sun are shaded from the high-angled summer sun. Thermal mass, which stores heat in the winter to release in the evening, works in reverse in the summer. The mass cools down in the evening and retains that coolness the next day, moderating the effects of high daytime temperatures.
Passive solar design works by utilizing overhangs to shade a house during the heat of the summer and allow sunlight to penetrate the interior of the house during the winter.
Graphic courtesy of North Carolina Solar Center.
Passive solar design utilizes energy efficiency
Energy efficiency minimizes the need for heating, cooling and electricity, solar or otherwise. Designers of solar homes use insulation levels that are higher than those found in typical construction and energy efficiency appliances and lighting.
Windows are up to twice as resistant to heat loss as those used in conventional construction. Air infiltration is also reduced by carefully sealing and caulking around window and door openings and under sill plates.
Adapted from "Consumer Guide to Solar Energy," K. Sheinkopf and S. Sklar, Bonus Books, Inc. and "Buildings for a Sustainable America Case Studies," Burke Miller Thayer, American Solar Energy Society.
Affordable Passive Solar
Homes
ases@ases.org
2400 Central Avenue,
G-1
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 443-3130
This book by Richard Crowther,
is available for $21, including postage and
handling, and includes 49
low-cost designs for passive solar homes.
Operation
Solar
Northeast Utilities
P.O. Box 270
Hartford, CT
06141-0270
(860) 665-5000
This book includes designs for nine solar
and energy-efficient traditional houses
ranging in size from 1,100 to 2,200
square feet. Available at no charge.
Home Designs for Energy Efficient
Living
HomeStyles Publishing and Marketing
275 Market Street, Suite
521
Minneapolis, MN 55405
(612) 338-8155
This book, containing
about 200 energy-efficient designs, may be ordered by
sending $8.70
(book+postage+handling) to the above address.
Partnership for Advancing
Technology in Housing
http://www.pathnet.org/
Planbook
for Low-Cost Energy Efficient Homes
Southface Energy Institute
P.O.
Box 5506
Atlanta, GA 30307
(404) 515-7657
This planbook includes
five solar and energy-efficient low-cost designs, each about
1,000 square
feet in size. This planbook has been used by affiliates of Habitat
for
Humanity in the construction of several of their homes. One copy may be
obtained
by sending $5 to the above address.
Residential Solar
Architecture: A Representational Inventory
Nebraska Library
Commission
Interlibrary Loan
1200 N Street, Suite 120
Lincoln, NE
68508
(402) 471-2045
A collection of 51 plans, the designs range from
1,500 to 4,000 square feet. This
book is no longer in print, but a copy may
be obtained on loan.
Energy-Efficient Home Plans for Kentucky,
and
Kentucky Solar Design Awards
Division of Energy
663 Teton
Trail
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 564-7192
Energy Efficient Home
Plans contains 10 plans varying in size from 1,000 to 2,500
square feet.
Kentucky Solar Design Awards publishes award winning designs of
various solar
projects, including 6 single-family homes.
Sun-Inspired
Home Plans
Energetic Design
18250 Tanner Road
Citronelle, AL
36522
(334) 866-2574
suninspired@earthlink.net Debra Rucker Coleman, Architect
http://energeticdesign.homestead.com/
This book
includes four sets of designs, each with numerous options for changing size,
facade, number of rooms, etc. It also contains an excellent section on energy
considerations for those building their own home. Copies of new home plans that have been designed since the original
printing are included too. To order this planbook, send $16 to the above
address. This price includes shipping.
Solar Homes for North Carolina
North Carolina Solar Center
Box
7401
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7401
(919)
515-3480
in NC, (800) 33-NC SUN
Published by the Energy Division of
the N.C. Department of Commerce, this group
of twelve designs ranges from
1,200 to 2,400 square feet. The plans were
designed to fit well with North
Carolina's climate and have been constructed
throughout the state. The
planbook is available free from the Solar Center for residents of North Carolina
and there is now a second book available. blueprints may be ordered for $7-9.
For more information or to order call the NC Solar Center or visit their website
at
http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu
Solar Homes for South
Carolina
S.C. Energy Office
1201 Main Street, Suite 820
Columbia,
SC 29201-3227
(803) 737-8030
This booklet includes eight sketches (1/2
page max.) ranging in size from 1,100 to 2,000 square feet. Please note that
these are not full size blueprints.
Available at no
charge.
Sunterra Homes
www.homesbysunterra.com
On this website, persons interested in passive-solar home design can view
many of our plans and can obtain free information on building science and
conservation covering energy efficient design, solariums and alternative energy,
air-tight construction with controlled ventilation, radiant floor heating, and
low-maintenance products.
The New Florida
Home,
The Florida Cracker-Style, and
The Expandable Affordable
Home
Public Information Office
Florida Solar Energy Center
1679
Clearlake Road
Cocoa, FL 32922
(407) 638-1000
Each of the above
books, available at no charge, contains three or four plans
ranging in size
from 900 to 2,100 square feet.
Material taken from North Carolina
Solar Center, the Energy Division, N.C. Department of Commerce, and N.C. State
University.
Homeowners with a sunspace frequently cite it as their favorite room of the house. Sunspaces provide light, warmth, aesthetics, and a healthy environment for plants and people. Sunspaces can also save money on home heating costs. In fact, well-designed sunspaces can provide up to 60% of a home’s winter heating requirements.
Elements of Sunspaces
Sunspaces contain the following elements:
Design Considerations
When designing a sunspace, there are several important factors that must be taken into consideration. Your planned primary use of the sunspace will influence some planning decisions: