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13
Summer
When designed correctly,
Summer
Sun
Sun a direct-gain solar home in
Winter
Overhang
a Texas city like Amarillo
Sun
could get 75 percent of the
Clearstory
heat it needs from the sun.
Insulation
Winter
Sun
Overhang INDIRECT-GAIN
SYSTEMS
The most common type
of indirect system is a
Masonry greenhouse or sun porch
Mass
(See Fig. 2). These rooms
trap heat from the sun that
can be used in other parts of
FIG. 1 SUN ANGLES This diagram shows the direct gain system. the house. These structures
are usually built to provide
the home. This is known as a direct gain more living space in the home or as a
system. During the winter, a direct gain place to grow plants. They also contain
system uses south-facing windows that a large amount of thermal mass to help
allow heat from the sun to enter the store heat from the sun. This heat can then
home (See Fig. 1). That heat is then stored be used in other parts of the house by
using thermal mass. Thermal mass is a natural air movement or by a fan.
dense material that gains or looses heat
slowly. Examples of thermal mass include During the hot Texas summer, when
concrete, adobe, stone, brick and water. we want to keep our homes as cool as
Heat that is stored in the thermal mass is possible, these structures can be covered
eventually released into the home later with a curtain, shades or blinds. Or we
when the sun is no longer high in the can let the warm air out by opening
sky. During the summer, when the sun is windows, door or vents.
higher in the sky, window overhangs block
the sun. For Texans, the most important THERMAL STORAGE
thing to consider is that the home has the
Solar homes work best when they are
right number of south-facing windows.
made with dense material that absorbs
The right number of south-facing windows
and loses heat slowly. These dense
depends on how big the home is, also
materials are known as thermal mass.
known as the square footage of the house.
Examples of thermal mass include
Too many windows will make the home
water, adobe, insulated concrete slabs,
too hot, which could be worse than no
masonry or even a brick fireplace. The
windows at all.
West
East
Porch
FIG. 2. LANDSCAPING CAN LOWER ENERGY COST Using natural shading from trees
and placing spaces, such as porches and garages, on the west side of the house can lower
heating and cooling costs.
thermal mass absorbs heat during the day air to the outside during the summer. In
when the sun is shining and releases it addition, if a roof overhang is the right
at night and when it is cloudy outside. size, it will prevent sunlight from hitting
Thermal mass also helps prevents homes the wall during the hot summer months.
from getting too hot during the day by
absorbing excess heat. NATURAL SHADING AND
LANDSCAPING
Builders can use thermal mass walls on
the south side of homes and cover it with Deciduous trees may be considered low-
glass. These types of walls have been in use tech, but they are one of the best ways
for centuries. These walls are sometimes to keep a home cool in the summer and
called Trombe walls named after the French warm in the winter. During the summer,
architect Felix Trombe. If the walls are the trees provide shade that blocks the
constructed of masonry, small vents can be sun and keeps it from making the house
added in the top and bottom so that warm warm. In the winter, when the leaves have
air from the air space in the wall will move fallen, sun can shine through the branches
into the home. If the home becomes too and into the home to provide some heat.
warm, the vents can be closed. Studies have shown that when the right
type of shade trees, bushes and grass are
In Texas, where cooling is usually more planted in the right places, energy that
of a problem than heating, vents can be is used to cool and heat a home can be
added to thermal walls that will move hot reduced by up to 30 percent.
ORGANIZATIONS RESOURCES
American Solar Energy Society FREE TEXAS RENEWABLE ENERGY INFORMATION
2400 Central Ave., G-1 For more information on how you can put Texas’ abundant
Boulder, CO 80301 renewable energy resources to Use in your home or business, visit
(303) 443-3130 our website at www.InfinitePower.org or call us at 1-800-531-5441
www.ases.org ext 31796. Ask about our free Teacher Resource Guides and CD
available to teachers and home schoolers.
Florida Solar Energy Center
1679 Clearlake Road ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB:
Cocoa, FL 32922 Renewables, products, sustainable living. A good place to start
(407) 638-7400 your search.
www.fsec.ucf.edu
The U. S. Department of Energy- Energy Efficiency and
Passive Solar Industries Council Renewable Energy
1511 K Street, Suite 600 This site has a comprehensive list of related web sites.
Washington, DC 20005 http://www.eere.energy.gov/AB/
(202) 628-7400
www.sbicouncil.org Operated by the North Carolina Solar Center, this site offers
a wealth of information, Including ideas on how to decorate a
Texas Solar Energy Society passive solar home. http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/
P.O. Box 1447
Austin, TS 78767-1447 Texas Solar Energy Society, a good place to start. www.txses.org
(800) 465-5049
e-mail: info@txses.org A source for Green and Sustainable Building covering energy,
www.txses.org water, building materials, solid waste and other topics. A
mammoth resource. www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook
Texas Renewable Energy Industries
Association Green Building Source - http://oikos.com/
P.O. Box 16469
Austin, TX 78761 BOOKS:
(512) 345-5446 Intererior Design for Passive Solar Homes. Jill C. Breen,
www.treia.org National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1981.
The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool
Your Home. James Kachadorian, Chelsea Green Publishing Co.,
1997.