Passive Solar Design - Powering Your Home With The Sun
If you ever wanted to save electricity and improve the comfort of your home without using any high-tech gadgets, then passive solar design is the answer.
Passive solar design is a clever way of using the sun’s natural heat and light energy in your home. An example is the use of different building designs and materials to effectively cool and heat your home. What’s so appealing about passive solar design is that it requires little upkeep, it is easy to setup, it improves the value of your home, and you can benefit from tax breaks.
How your home was built and what is what built from play a big part in determining its passive solar potential. Ideally it should be built either on a sun-facing slope or on flat land. And if you live in a residential area, any trees surrounding your home should be deciduous to let through sunlight in winter, but shade your home in summer.
If you plan to build a new home, make sure it is designed so that the majority of it faces the sun. Also, the size, type and shape of your windows will affect how much sunlight and natural heat your home gets.
There are three ways the sun can heat your home:
1) Direct - this the heat generated from the sun shining directly on an object.
2) Indirect - when an object with the sun shining on it, radiates heat.
3) Isolated - the hot air that circulates through your home.
To ensure the most natural heat from the above three sources, a number of large windows should be placed on the sun-facing side of your home, allowing maximum sunlight in.
But there is no point designing your home to let in a lot of natural sunlight and warmth if that energy cannot be stored for later use. Ideally you would want to use materials that absorb sunlight and radiate that heat for a long time. In winter, to get the most out of the natural heat in your home, you could close off cold, unused rooms from the rest of the house, and sit in the sunnier, warmer rooms during the day.
To control how much sunlight and heat enters your home in summer, you could install roof overhangs. They should be the right breadth to block out the hot midday sun, but let in low-angle, weaker sunlight too. And do not forget to use the right foliage and trees in your garden to control how much seasonal sunlight enters your home.
To make your current home more energy efficient, an easy way would to get the latest windows that can retain up to 50% more heat. Than can cost up to 15% more than traditional windows, but they will save you a lot of energy and money in the long-run.
These modern windows are known as double-glazed or Low-Emissivity (Low-E) windows. They are great at letting through sunlight and keeping radiant heat from escaping. Some them are made from 2 panes of glass, with a gap of krpyton or argon gas in between to store the sun’s heat. Just make sure your windows and doors are tightly-sealed, and it will prevent any warmth from escaping your home.
What your windows are made from can make a big difference too. While metal framed windows generally conduct heat out the house, wood, vinyl and fiberglass frames insulate the heat better. Always ensure any modern windows bought have labels issued by Energy Star or the National Fenestration Rating Council. These labels provide statistics on how effective and efficient the windows are at retaining heat, which helps you purchase the right windows for your conditions and budget.
The whole idea behind passive solar design is to use the sun’s natural heat in such a way that it reduces your energy consumption and expenses. So before going out and getting the latest and greatest passive solar design and products, always weigh up the cost involved with how much you will save in energy bills in the long-term.
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