passive solar design, definition of

Passive Solar Design

Passive Solar Design is undergoing a resurgence as more people not only recognise the comfort benefits and lower energy bills of solar architecture, but now see a way of helping reduce the polluting effects of green house gases through less reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooling.

Basic house design principles include:
  • Orientation of the main living areas towards the North (or South if in the Northern hemisphere)
  • Glazing used to trap the warmth of the Sun.
  • Thermal mass to store the heat from the Sun.
  • Insulation to reduce heat loss or heat gain.
  • Ventilation to capture cooling breezes.
A well designed solar home should remain within 18 degrees C to 28 degrees C throughout the year and save 60% to 70% in average household heating costs.

EcoWho Articles where 'passive solar design' used:
  • Low Allergen Building Design
    Low allergen design is a whole building approach that aims to reduce and avoid all known allergens, and to minimize the conditions in which they occur. This article shows you how.
  • The importance of building orientation
    Building orientation to the Sun is important to reduce energy consumption, keeping comfortable and saving money. This article explains how best to get building orientation correct. Through a combination of benefits and opportunities the correct building orientation could save you thousands.
  • What is Passive Solar?
    Passive solar building design is explained and how passive solar principals are used to design green homes and buildings, and save you money.
EcoWho blog posts where 'passive solar design' used:
  • Passive Solar Design advice
    Passive Solar design can be applied to existing buildings as well as new buildings. We explain some useful techniques and give links to useful resources.
  • Sustainable House Day 2010 in Australia
    Sustainable House Day 2010 is on for Sunday 12th September 2010, we look at how this can help you been more sustainable.
  • Sustainable House and Home
    Sustainable housing, we look into what you need to do to make your house more green and sustainable.
  • Passive Solar
    Passive Solar is often banded around as a good thing to do to make your house more green; we look at it in more detail.
  • Bilderberg 2010
    Bilderberg 2010, a meeting you have never heard of, full of people you have never heard of - trying to manage the world without your say..
  • Rain fall and rain harvesting calculator
    A new calculator that uses some publicly available rain fall data to help work out your monthly rain fall and hence collectible rain water.
  • Green Directory
    New Green directory service on line.
  • Architects held to be "Fit For Purpose"
    Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill (No. 2) 2010 will seek to remove an exception requiring Architects and Engineers to comply to a 'Fit for Purpose' warranty. We think this is a good thing.
  • The Skeptic Global Warming Conference
    The Fourth International Conference on Climate Change is taking place in Chicago, Illinois.
  • New Scientist, in denial on denial
    New Scientist has just published a 'Age of Denial' special edition..
  • Kids test with added global warming propoganda
    The recent NAPLAN test in Australia has caused an outrage due to it containing an inaccurate article that pits roo meat against beef & the coal industry in terms of environmental impact.
Online tools where 'passive solar design' used:
  • Passive Solar Design Eaves Calculator
    Works out the ideal Eave depth for a given height of window and world location; so the Sun comes in in Winter but not Summer, maximizing the passive solar effect.
News & Blog articles where 'passive solar design' used:

Related Tags: passive solar, green building, thermal mass, solar homes

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