Letting the Sun Heat Your Home

Passive Solar Heating is a very easy to understand concept. Basically it is using the free heat produced by the sun to heat your home. Passive solar heating is best accomplished if you are doing a new build or the house you live in faces true North or solar North (magnetic North is slightly off from true North depending upon where you live).

There are 4 basic needs for passive solar heating to work properly:

• Home Orientation
• Insulation
• Window Design
• The Final Touches

Home Orientation

Most people do not know that the orientation of their house affects the amount of solar energy that can be captured from the sun during the cold winter time, as well as being able to shade the hot sun in the summer.

Here are the steps to follow:

• For a new design take a compass and find magnetic north (you will need to find the adjustment you need to make for true north or solar north. This is dependant upon what latitude you are located at.). Nevada residents use 15 degrees east declination. This means once you find magentic north with your compass subtract 15 degrees east to find true north or geographic north. Place the long axis of your home at a 90 degree angle to this.
• After your home is built, you will need to place deciduous trees to block the sun from the house and windows during the summer. When autumn arrives and the leaves fall off, the warm winter sun will not be blocked. A good place for these trees would be in the south west location of your property, since the summer sun will be hottest at this point. It is a good idea to map the sun's path during the summer to find the best place for these trees.

Your home's orientation plays a key role in determining wheather or not you will reap the benefits of passive solar heating.

Insulate

Be sure to consult our area of Weatherization to be sure you have done everything possible to ensure your home is leak-free. Remember it is far less expensive to conserve energy than to purchase power to heat a poorly built home.

Window Design

The windows of your home are the solar collectors. Place the majority of theses windows on the south (or long-axis) of your home. Large vertical windows will collect the low winter sun while blocking the high summer sun. Be sure to purchase the highest quality windows you can afford. Triple pane windows with an enert gas injected between the glass will do the best job at insulating your home, while still allowing the warm sun light in. When you are looking for windows do not buy low e glass for the south side windows. Low e glass will block the warmth provided by the sun.

Finishing it off

Be sure to use solar shades on your south facing glass during the summer. Static cling tint can be used in the summer and removed for the winter. It can be purchased in rolls at your local home improvement store. This will insure that you do not over heat your home during the summer.

This article mearly touches the surface of passive solar heating. In the near future we will provide a complete guide along with photos of our very own solar room. This solar room will act as a large collector of solar heat that will be used to warm our living room during the winter.