The Basics of Passive Solar Home Design

The sun is a natural and reliable source of energy. Solar Energy can be used to create electricity, heat buildings, heat water, distill water, cook food, dry food, dry clothes, and power electric vehicles. This course will focus on how the sun can heat homes by incorporating basic Passive Solar design strategies to provide from 20-90% of a home’s heating needs with little cooling penalties. Passive Solar energy can lower heating bills and allow PV (photovoltaic) systems to be downsized. Learn how the movement of the sun, siting, building shape, window placement, overhangs, porches, building mass, and insulation work together to warm and brighten homes

Learning Objectives:

1. Be able to describe how the seasonal movement of the sun affects various building surfaces throughout the year to bring in natural heat and light to improve the physical and mental health of occupants
2. Be able to use one web-based tools to quantify of Passive Solar energy for winter heat through south-facing windows to increase the well-being of occupants with a safer, more resilient home during extreme cold periods and how that ties into LEED BD+C V4 and v4.1 Residential Annual Energy Use
3. Be able to explain how siting, building shape, window placement, overhangs, porches, building mass, and insulation aids in cooling by minimizing summer solar gain while keeping the home safe during power outages and how that ties into LEED BD+C V4 and v4.1 Residential Annual Energy Use
4. Understand how the amount of insulation affects the percentage of a home’s heating load that can be provided from free, Passive Solar energy from the sun and how that ties into LEED BD+C V4 and v4.1 Residential Annual Energy Use

Continuing Education Units (CEUS) 2 hours in

• Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI)
• Building Performance Institute (BPI) NonWholeHouse
• American Institute of Architects - AIA (HSW) (PENDING)
• Certified Green Professional (NARI & CGP)
• Certified GreenHome Professional (CGHP)
• AIBD
• State Architect / Builder License may be applicable

Need CEUS?
Take the Quiz here:

Speakers:

Debbie Coleman, Architect, AIA: Debbie founded Sun Plans which provides passive solar home design throughout the U.S. She authored The Sun-Inspired House and has designed hundreds of homes incorporating passing heating and cooling strategies. Her work has been published in Fine Homebuilding, Mother Earth News, and Home Power. As a licensed architect for over 25 years, Debbie has designed hundreds of Passive Solar homes across the United States and Canada in many climate zones. She obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona, published a book on Passive Solar design - The Sun-Inspired House: home designs warmed and brightened by the sun. The book and her design philosophies incorporate Passive Solar Design Strategies; Guidelines for Home Building developed by NREL, and are continuously evolving to adapt to low-energy construction methods, climate changes, and housing technologies. Her work has been published in Fine Homebuilding, Home Energy, Mother Earth News, Solar Today and Home Power. Debbie serves on the board of directors for ASES (American Solar Energy Society), the ASES Solar Buildings Technical Division, and the steering committees for both the National Solar Tour and the National Solar Conference. She is a LEED GA and member of AIA. She loves the outdoors with the ever-changing skies and enjoys the challenges of bringing natural light into right-sized, practical, sun-inspired low-energy homes

Orlo Stitt, Passive Solar Builder: Orlo founded The Stitt Group, a design/build company. He has built hundreds of passive solar homes and developed South Sun Estates on the Lake, an energy-planned passive solar subdivision. He is a Certified Green Professional, former HERS Rater, and author of the recent publication Holistically Green Homes.

[ssketchup]

I want to express my gratitude to the presenters for their informative presentation and for sharing their invaluable experiences. Special thanks to Brett Little and GreenHome Institute for providing this fantastic webinar.

[iracaplan]

This looks great; on my list. Thanks Brett and GHI!

[debbie]

Invaluable information for designing our house! Thank you!

[madbuckets]

I am looking to have passive solar incorporated into by new build and I currently have designs which are drafted. I am wondering if there are any opportunities to collaborate with any of the presenters to ensure that we incorporate the passive design.

[georgewhitehouse]

I am feeling very grateful that you have made films. I want you to grow and I want to be a part of this. It seems to me that you guys are focusing on teaching more than the living. Talk is cheap. The proof is in the actions . We can all get lost in information.

[btbrant]

Is the main drawback of a higher south facing window percentage just too much heat? If my south facing shading can block out noon sun from May-September, wouldn't it still be a good thing to access as much of the free heat as possible. I am also planning thermal mass systems with interior wall being masonry and being on a concrete slab.

Curious why most passive solar designs don't seem to have a higher percentage of windows south facing.

[animacuso]

31:57 "Trying to convince people not to build basements"? maybe a video about basements? I was thinking that basements are god because of better insulation underground, but I also feel like the best house is one that will last for a a long time, this way resources aren't used up over and over, and a basement needs to be as durable as the rest of the house, but I did not find much information about that and I am left with a general feeling that basements start failing in some way before the rest of the house.

[erinhansen]

What is Michigan Basement Syndrome mentioned in the video?

[DanielDuedu]

I want more information for those living in the equator (West Africa). I want to build a passive house, concentrating on cooling (the temperature year round is ~ 28°C +- 3°C).

[bradbrown]

Interested in incorporating GABLOK with passive solar home.

[linmal]

I had a Rheem ?? heat pump. Had to get rid of it and put in an off-peak! My plumber cous in C'berra said they had to rip them all out in Canberra as they just did not work well enough !

[brewatthebeach]

Is there any way to get a PDF of the presentation?

[johnware]

I missed the live show. Is there an AIA presentation number to get CEU credit?

[KJSvitko]

A more comfortable home that saves energy and saves money.

[sasst]

I see more discussion about mini splits than heat pumps now. Why ?

[aicram]

Does the overhang have to be built in?Can you install an awning instead?

[bepitan]

of course this assumes we all live in the same place ..

[canonicaltom]

20:30 Make sure to use Earth sheltering for efficiency, it's great
30:20 Be sure to never use Earth sheltering, it's the worst

[GreenHomeInstitute]

ivan2fast4u

If I have 10% on 40sqm floor is 2x2 window... on south wall?!?! Are you kidding me?



Assuming you mean a window that is 2 meters x 2 meters for your 40 square meter building, that is correct. To clarify, the maximum recommend south glass in latitudes of approx. 30-50 degrees North is 10% of the floor area. South glass above 7% requires additional thermal mass per the webinar.

[joeaaronsen]

Energy efficient house design is of limited value when they are built in car-dependent green-field suburbs.