North facing roof windows direct sunlight onto suspended slab in the Surrey Hills house.
Passive solar design uses a combination of windows, shading and thermal mass to regulate temperature inside a building.
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
- What is Passive Solar? – Specific elements of passive solar design
