The Solar House (eBook)

Passive Heating and Cooling

Daniel D. Chiras (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2002
286 Seiten
Chelsea Green Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-60358-015-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Passive solar heating and passive coolingapproaches known as natural conditioningprovide comfort throughout the year by reducing, or eliminating, the need for fossil fuel. Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved.Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book The Natural House, brings those principles up to date for a new generation of solar enthusiasts.The techniques required to heat and cool a building passively have been used for thousands of years. Early societies such as the Native American Anasazis and the ancient Greeks perfected designs that effectively exploited these natural processes. The Greeks considered anyone who didn't use passive solar to heat a home to be a barbarian!In the United States, passive solar architecture experienced a major resurgence of interest in the 1970s in response to crippling oil embargoes. With grand enthusiasm but with scant knowledge (and sometimes little common sense), architects and builders created a wide variety of solar homes. Some worked pretty well, but looked more like laboratories than houses. Others performed poorly, overheating in the summer because of excessive or misplaced windows and skylights, and growing chilly in the colder months because of insufficient thermal mass and insulation and poor siting.In The Solar House, Dan Chiras sets the record straight on the vast potential for passive heating and cooling. Acknowledging the good intentions of misguided solar designers in the past, he highlights certain egregiousand entirely avoidableerrors. More importantly, Chiras explains in methodical detail how today's home builders can succeed with solar designs.Now that energy efficiency measures including higher levels of insulation and multi-layered glazing have become standard, it is easier than ever before to create a comfortable and affordable passive solar house that will provide year-round comfort in any climate.Moreover, since modern building materials and airtight construction methods sometimes result in air-quality and even toxicity problems, Chiras explains state-of-the-art ventilation and filtering techniques that complement the ancient solar strategies of thermal mass and daylighting. Chiras also explains the new diagnostic aids available in printed worksheet or software formats, allowing readers to generate their own design schemes.

Inhalt

Introduction : achieving comfort in any climate

1. Fundamentals of integrated passive design

2. Energy-efficient design and construction

3. Passive solar heating : region-specific design

4. Supplying back-up heat sustainably

5. Passive solar heating : region-specific design

6. Supplying back-up heat sustainably

7. Passive cooling: region-specific design

8. Health matters : optimum air quality in passively conditioned homes

9. Designing a passively conditioned home and assessing its performance

10. Going solar? Why not go all the way?

Appendix : mean percentage of possible sunshine

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.10.2002
• Zusatzinfo: Black and white photos and illustrations
• Verlagsort: White River Junction
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Hausbau / Einrichten / Renovieren
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Freizeit / Hobby ► Heimwerken / Do it yourself
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Bauwesen
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Schlagworte: Builder • cost of living crisis • Daylighting • energy crisis • environmental • Green Building • natural conditioning • reducing need for fossil fuel • renewable energy • Solar power • Thermal mass • ventilation and filtering techniques
• ISBN-10: 1-60358-015-8 / 1603580158
• ISBN-13: 978-1-60358-015-1 / 9781603580151