Passive solar heating article

[Daox]

Found this the other day. Its a moderate length article on passive solar heating and how to design for it in a house / building. It goes over how to design the overhangs, putting in thermal mass. Seems to cover pretty much all the bases, but doesn't go super in depth.

Passive Solar Heating | Whole Building Design Guide

Typically, passive solar heating involves:

•The collection of solar energy through properly-oriented, south-facing windows
•The storage of this energy in "thermal mass," comprised of building materials with high heat capacity such as concrete slabs, brick walls, or tile floors
•The natural distribution of the stored solar energy back to the living space, when required, through the mechanisms of natural convection and radiation
•Window specifications to allow higher solar heat gain coefficient in south glazing

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by Daox

Found this the other day. Its a moderate length article on passive solar heating and how to design for it in a house / building. It goes over how to design the overhangs, putting in thermal mass. Seems to cover pretty much all the bases, but doesn't go super in depth.

Passive Houses employ the technique of passive solar in their overall design, when the average amount of sun makes heat gain through windows significantly larger than the heat loss, which is true most of the time. Although, for human wellbeing, some windows are desirable, and the accompanying heat loss is inevitable. The Passive House Planning Package (AKA: PHPP) is able to integrate geographic data and solar data into its building design... but microclimate must also be considered.

I actually think that this page you have brought to our attention is a really good resource. True, it doesn't go into deep detail, but it does hit all the high spots.

I like its attention to the use of climbing vines [and strategically planted trees] to reduce solar gain. Too few of us EcoRenovators are taking advantage of the free cooling to be had by the proper use of plants & trees.

* * *

But the overall site is very useful, and its bare-bones but very useful INDEX PAGE should be bookmarked. Note that the index page only indicates the topics at the beginning of the alphabet... by clicking, the rest of the topics are made available.

Looks to me that the logical starting point to this trove of information might be this page: Building Science Concepts.

Of course, this information would be useful if you are building, but it would also be very worthwhile if you are looking to buy an existing home.

Thanks for the information!

Best,

-AC