Passive solar design

From Greenlivingpedia, a wiki on green living, building and energy

Revision as of 22:20, 9 June 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.

External links

• Wikipedia:Passive solar building design
• www.solaraspects.com - website that provides advice on maximizing the solar passive design potential for new homes
• What is Passive Solar? - Article that goes into some depth on the specific elements of passive solar design