passive solar

Reasons Why Anyone Can Go Solar

jchait — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

One of my favorite books, The Solar Living Sourcebook, notes that too often people sort of whine about locating the perfect plot of land for a solar powered home, when really solar can work for every location, just to varying degrees.

They make a good point.

Obviously, there's more sun on a mountain in New Mexico then in a valley in Northern Oregon. However, there's still sun everywhere, and if you have sun, you have solar potential. Basically any amount of solar power your home can use is a good deal for the environment. Any amount you can use is just that much less used from non-renewable sources, and that much money saved.

The Solar Living Sourcebook notes the following ideas:

Anyone can utilize solar power to a degree. You have to use what you have, make the most of what's available, and use super smart before building planning.
Work with nature, not against it.
You don't have to accomplish great strides all at once. Simply working hard to reduce your dependency on your heater and AC is a good start. Learning to use less is a key point. Sure your plot may not produce enough solar power to have your electricity running 24/7, but should it? No one needs their lights or TV on all day.

Learn more about solar power:

Passive Solar Home Building

jchait — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:15:54 -0400

During the second half of last week we looks at tips for buying the perfect land for your green home. This week, we'll look at a couple of the tips up close. Eventually we'll look at all the tips more in-depth, but it won't all happen at once, because that would be a little dull, no? It's nice to mix things up.

As noted in the previous tips post, choose land that's open to the south - if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. This should ideally provide you with good strong solar access for the bulk of the day.

Avoid heavily wooded or otherwise shrouded from the sun land. I.e the path from the sun to your home needs to be unobstructed. Consider if natural structures like mountains are going to block your solar access and also man-made structures like other homes. Don't forget to think ahead to future developments that could block the sun.

Don't orientate your home towards a beautiful lake, or the twinkling lights of country homes, instead of towards the sun. Scenery is nice, but lower electric bills are priceless - not to sound like a credit card, but it's true. Solar can't work as hard for you when you face your home away from the sun.

If you've heard the term passive cooling in conjunction with solar, and are worried that facing the sun will do you in during the summer, relax; good solid solar design actually works as a passive cooling design. More of the passive cooling designs you'll be thinking about have to do with your actual home vs. the land. If you're working with a good designer, or are a good designer yourself, you'll do well with the passive cooling issue.

You really do need to map your sunlight on your potential land. There's too much to this concept to go over here, we'd be discussing it for the next year or so. Also, this can be a big undertaking if you want to do it right. When I was building a passive solar home the most helpful book I found on sun mapping was The Natural House. Author Daniel D. Chiras basically walks you through what to do from start to finish. He utilizes helpful diagrams as well.

Chiras actually recommends that if soar mapping sounds too complicated that you can hire a solar designer or builder for help. Honestly though, I knew very little about truly mapping land for solar and this book made it easy I thought. (And believe me I'm not a technical type).

Software to help you calculate solar angles.

A great list of books that can help you plan what you'll need to consider when building for solar power.

Build Your Home for Energy Efficiency

jchait — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:06:33 -0400

If you’re building from scratch there are some things you can do to insure maximum energy efficiency.

Work proper shading into your design – tactics such as overhangs and trees planted within close proximity can work hard to naturally cool your home during the summer.

Use smart lighting where you can: Shoot for a majority (or all) of your lighting to be sun tunnels, compact fluorescents, or LED vs. incandescent lighting.

Throughout your home use energy efficient appliances – look for the energy star label.

Don’t add more light then you need. For example, in a room used for an office, one that just has a desk, requires less lighting than say a family dinner dining area. If you can utilize task lighting with LED only, try that. You can always add more light if truly necessary.

Build no larger than you really need. Extra unoccupied rooms lead to extra heating and cooling costs. Even if you shut the doors on these rooms, drafts may be an issue.

Build with the correct building orientation in mind to utilize passive solar and minimize wind. Consider whole solar or power or a wind solar combo if you can.

Use spaces as weather buffers – like a garage. Although, some think that better energy efficiency can be gained by not having an attached garage. Talk to your contractor or designer to see what suits your site best.

Make sure you design your home for easy installation of renewable energy systems from the start. If you plan poorly in the beginning, it can cost much more later on.

Choose a home building team who has completed energy efficient homes from the ground up previously.

Consider a green roof or white roofing.