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Framed in exposed steel with expansive windows, the house uses exterior views and shifting patterns of light to establish a dialogue with its surroundings, leading to a physical awareness of the sun’s movement throughout the day and the seasons. Natural materials including Douglas fir timber framing, stained oak floors, Pennsylvania bluestone, and Quartzite counters glow in the sunlight and add warmth to the modern interiors. I have been using structural insulated panels (SIPs) in most of my designs for many years.
How passive solar heating and cooling works:
The two primary elements of passive solar heating are south facing glass and thermal mass to absorb, store, and distribute heat. Thermal mass walls are best-suited to sunny winter climates that have high diurnal (day-night) temperature swings (e.g., southwest, mountain-west). They do not perform as well in cloudy or extremely cold climates or in climates where there is not a large diurnal temperature swing. Nighttime thermal losses through the thermal mass of the wall can still be significant in cloudy and cold climates; the wall loses stored heat in less than a day, and then leak heat, which dramatically raises backup heating requirements. Covering the glazing with tight-fitting, moveable insulation panels during lengthy cloudy periods and nighttime hours will enhance performance of a thermal storage system. A typical unvented thermal storage wall consists of a south facing masonry or concrete wall with a dark, heat-absorbing material on the exterior surface and faced with a single or double layer of glass.
Direct Gain
Passive solar design begins with the simple idea that you can build a house that uses natural heating, cooling, ventilation and daylighting. These homes require much less fossil fuel energy to heat and cool than conventional homes do, which is better for the environment and saves passive solar homeowners money. Passive solar homes are comfortable to live in because they are designed to radiate heat in winter, maintain a comfortable year-round temperature, ventilate naturally, and let in plenty of natural light. A water wall uses a type of thermal mass that consists of tanks or tubes of water used as thermal mass.
Several Ways to Implement a Passive Energy Home
Daytime high temperatures are normally about 90 F and nighttime lows are in the low 70's during May through September, and slightly cooler in April and October. Mostly, the months from mid-February to mid-April and mid-October to late November are delightful, with cool nights and warm, but not hot, days, and low to moderate humidity. December and January can be cold, with several to about a dozen freezing spells.
The History of Passive House: A Global Movement with North American Roots Article EESI - Climate Change Solutions
The History of Passive House: A Global Movement with North American Roots Article EESI.
Posted: Fri, 23 Jun 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Cool Roofs
As a tried and true science with rapid advancements in planning technology, more and more sustainably minded developments are merging with passive solar design as a totally necessary component. Moving right along with massive, naturally lit spaces, passive solar design is one of the chief principles behind the beautiful Cleveland Museum of Art. That’s right, Cleveland! Other than perhaps Buffalo, New York, Cleveland has a reputation as one of the colder, darker cities that can be found in the United States. However, this has not stopped passive solar design from prevailing once again. It doesn’t take a scientist to understand that the sun is both bright and warm, and its light and heat can be used in our daily lives. With that said, there is one underlying scientific principle that is responsible for the majority of how passive solar design works.
We are planning to start building our passive solar style house this spring/summer, and now since being on this site, I'm feeling inspired to revisit some of our design issues. There are two dates that form the cornerstone of passive solar design, December 21st and June 21st when the sun is at its highest and lowest points. Next, here is an image from GreenPassiveSolar.com which shows passive solar design being utilized by a more traditional looking home. With that said, the domed exterior makes it continuously apparent that passive solar design can be incorporated to fit within many unique styles and applications. First, let’s head to Taos, New Mexico, where you will find some of the most interesting looking buildings in the world. In this photo above, you can see one of Taos’s very own “earthships,” which is a specially designed net zero home incorporating many interesting sustainable practices.
Putting the Punk into Passive House
The Psychrometric Chart shown to the left is one of the more advanced features available in Climate Consultant. Each dot on the chart represents the temperature and humidity of each of the 8760 hours per year. The percentage of hours that fall into each of the 16 different Design Strategy Zones gives a relative idea of the most effective passive heating or passive cooling strategies.
What flooring options work with a passive solar design?
Heat loss is especially likely when the thermal mass is in direct contact with the ground or with outside air that is at a lower temperature than the desired temperature of the mass. In a thermal storage wall system, often called a Trombe wall, a massive wall is located directly behind south-facing glass, which absorbs solar energy and releases it selectively towards the building interior at night. The wall can be constructed of cast-in-place concrete, brick, adobe, stone, or solid (or filled) concrete masonry units. Sunlight enters through the glass and is immediately absorbed at the surface of the mass wall and either stored or conducted through the material mass to the inside space.
South facing glass admits solar energy into the house where it strikes masonry floors and walls, which absorb and store the solar heat, which is radiated back out into the room at night. These thermal mass materials are typically dark in color in order to absorb as much heat as possible. The thermal mass also tempers the intensity of the heat during the day by absorbing energy.
Although the green curved walls can be hard to look past, this photo actually showcases both passive and active solar design. Here, the south facing side of the building is purposefully angled to allow direct sunlight to hit both the glazed windows and PV solar panels. At the same time, the sun is able to provide heat and electricity for this unique home.
The simple concept and process of implementing passive solar energy systems have provided buildings with heat, lighting, mechanical power, and electricity in one of the most environmentally-conscious way possible. This article outlines a complete guide of implementing passive solar systems in architectural designs. The thermal mass absorbs the sunlight that strikes it and transfers it to the living space by conduction. The indirect gain system will utilize 30-45% of the sun’s energy striking the glass adjoining the thermal mass.
Of particular interest is the fact that the homes can stand alone or be stacked up to five stories high, offering an ideal solution for developers building multifamily projects. Each home is steel-framed and features robotic walls and furniture to capitalize on the available space, with each room serving multiple purposes. Additional sustainable features include solar integration — reducing reliance on the traditional power grid — and plumbing systems that separate gray and black water — promoting efficient water use and reuse. Imagine a home so energy efficient that it could be heated with just a hair dryer.
Passive solar technologies use sunlight without active mechanical systems (as contrasted to active solar, which uses thermal collectors). Such technologies convert sunlight into usable heat (in water, air, and thermal mass), cause air-movement for ventilating, or future use, with little use of other energy sources. Passive cooling is the use of similar design principles to reduce summer cooling requirements.
Glass framing is typically metal (e.g., aluminum) because vinyl will soften and wood will become super dried at the 180 °F (82 °C) temperature that can exist behind the glass in the wall. Heat from sunlight passing through the glass is absorbed by the dark surface, stored in the wall, and conducted slowly inward through the masonry. As an architectural detail, patterned glass can limit the exterior visibility of the wall without sacrificing solar transmissivity.
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