Pros and Cons of Sunspaces
Sunspaces – especially those attached outside the main home – are extremely popular. However, like all things, you need to carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages rather than just jumping in and building one.
Sunspaces – especially those attached outside the main home – are extremely popular. However, like all things, you need to carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages rather than just jumping in and building one.
One of the aspects of passive solar house design that surprises many people is the need for shade. If your heating depends on sunlight, why would you block it? Because not all sunlight is beneficial to a passive solar home – the high summer sun, in particular, can produce far too much heat, requiring some kind of shade to stop your home turning into an oven.
One of the aspects of passive solar house design that surprised many people is the need for shade. If your heating depends on sunlight, why would you block it? Because not all sunlight is beneficial to a passive solar home – the high summer sun, in particular, can produce far too much heat, requiring some kind of shade to stop your home turning into an oven.
Thankfully, the days of cookie-cutter houses built quickly to exactly the same design are on their way out. Even in places where the homes are all based on the same floor plan, individual home owners add and change things to suit themselves. One of the easiest things to change in any home is the color of the exterior walls.
In most cases, we talk about thermal mass as something that absorbs and stores useful heat from the sun's light, releasing it when your home gets colder to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature. However, it is possible to use thermal mass as an effective cooling mechanism.
A good passive solar home design maintains a balance between solar and non-solar windows. Solar windows are those which face the sun, on the side of the house pointing true south; non-solar windows are those on the other sides.
If you're thinking of building your own home or work in the construction industry, you need to know about "natural conditioning". Otherwise known under a variety of names, such as "passive solar" and "day-lighting", this is the practice of designing and building a home so that it works to reduce your heating bills by optimizing natural heating and cooling.
Most engineers call it "integrated design", but green systems installers like to use the word "holistic" because it rings of holistic therapy, holistic medicine and other natural alternatives that work just as well as their traditional counterparts. But what is it?
Holistic or integrated home design is the art and science of creating homes which take full advantage of the natural resources available – notably light and heat – while providing a comfortable, pleasant living environment. Like all things, it has its advantages and disadvantages.