Passive solar design

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Revision as of 10:49, 29 March 2010

North facing roof windows direct sunlight onto suspended slab in the Surrey Hills house

Passive solar design features include:

Orienting buildings so that north-facing windows (southern hemisphere) allow sunlight to enter living spaces.
Using sunlight from north facing windows (southern hemisphere) to heat living spaces when you want to warm a building
Using thermal mass (such as masonry walls and concrete slabs) to regulate internal temperature variations.
- In summer, thermal mass can keep a building a cool during hot days (if you keep the sun off it)
- In winter, you can allow thermal mass to warm up in sunlight so it can give off heat during the evenings
Using shading systems to keep sunlight away from North, East and West facing windows when you want to keep a building cool

In the northern hemisphere, south-facing windows get the sunlight.

Wikipedia:Passive solar building design
www.solaraspects.com - website that provides advice on maximizing the solar passive design potential for new homes

 * Using sunlight from north facing windows (southern hemisphere) to heat living spaces when you want to warm a building
 * Using [[thermal mass]] (such as masonry walls and concrete slabs) to regulate internal temperature variations.
-** In '''summer''', thermal mass can keep a building a cool duing hot days (if you keep the sun off it)
+** In '''summer''', thermal mass can keep a building a cool during hot days (if you keep the sun off it)
 ** In '''winter''', you can allow thermal mass to warm up in sunlight so it can give off heat during the evenings
 * Using [[shading systems]] to keep sunlight away from North, East and West facing windows when you want to keep a building cool