House Plans Solar

House plans solar optimized for your climate follow a few fundamental design principles. The two core principles to a sensible passive solar home are:

1. Incident Solar Radiation (Insolation for you techie types) - how much sun can you get at what time of the year. Obviously in the winter the low sun is available over a small arc centered on true south (or north for those of you south of the equator but I suspect your used to this sort of thing). Capitalize on this by placing overhangs to shield the high summer sun and allow in the low winter sun.

2. Thermal Mass - concrete, tile, water, abode, brick - as long as it's inside of the insulated envelope and has lots of mass (weight) it'll help even out the temperature of your home. This thermal flywheel or buffer will allow the warm winter sun to heat your home after the sun goes down rather than overheating your home during the day. Sufficient thermal mass can make or break your design - ASK you designer or learn how to calculate the necessary amount.

Don't just put a HEMI in your home (an oversized engine)! Design elegance is in self-regulation of the home without the gagets required by active solar or fossile fuel heating.

Please watch out for

1. Too much glass - more than 20% of the exterior wall area.

2. Angled glass - it'll cook you in your house unless it's seperate from your interior by an insulated door/window.

3. East/West facing windows that aren't shaded in the summer by movable overhangs (so you can let the winter sun in) or deciduous trees that will let the winter sun in naturally!

Good house plans solar optimized for your climate are available but you need to be careful that you select ones from a competant designer. Using the above two core design principles and looking for these three RED flags in the designs should enable you to pick a competant designer!