 Passive Solar Design is anything but passive. It is the intentional use of the sun, to heat, cool and light a home or structure through non-mechanical means.
If you are planning to build a new home, make major renovations, or a room addition, passive solar design can save you hundreds of dollars on your energy bill. Even with small renovations it’s possible to make some changes depending on what direction your home is facing and the use of proper insulation.
The techniques utilized are designed to take advantage of the sun’s rays and are the same no matter where you live. Climate or elevation, the goal is maximize solar heat gain in the winter and minimize it in the summer. To achieve these goals you must have two key elements, well placed windows and a home well sealed and insulted.
The science behind using windows is simple: when the sun shines through the glass, heat is trapped, which helps keep the house warm. The difficult part is choosing the right windows and placing them in the right location for maximum heat gain or loss, depending on where you live and the weather associated with the climate there.
Conversely, the shading that goes over the window is equally important in helping to keep the house cool. The sun raises higher overhead in summer than in winter so the proper sizing of the window’s overhang or awnings can help heat a home in the winter and cool it in the summer. The cooling effect and resulting savings will be extremely important to those living close to the equator that find it necessary to run central air or A/C units year round.
Another benefit to having the right windows and window placement is effective daylighting. Increasing the natural light in a home can decrease your electric bill. Generally, glazed tile floors should account for five (5%) percent of a room’s floor area for effective daylighting. The glaze acts as a reflective surface that allows light to bounce around a room, much like a mirror. Install windows with low E-coating and a high visible light transmittance to minimize glare while allowing for proper heat gain and loss. Skylights can also provide additional natural light sources.
The effectiveness of passive solar design will be significantly reduced if a home is not insulated and sealed effectively. By tightening the seal on your home you can effectively reduce heat loss and gain in addition to having the rightly placed windows can make you that much richer.
In addition to the right size shading for those money saver windows, a home can be cooled by using the natural flow of hot and cold air to the homeowner’s advantage. Natural cooling techniques like the stack effect or chimney effect is used in two story homes. In this design the second floor exit windows, ridge vents, whole house fans or other openings draw the warm air out the top of the home and the first floor windows or vents let cool air in.
The use of some or all of the passive solar design elements will allow your house to be more energy efficient and save you hundreds on your yearly electric bill whether seaside, mountainside or mountaintop.
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