Passive Solar Design
Passive Solar Design: Understanding the Relationship between the Sun and our
Environment.
Pre-Western Civlization Method: Relationship of humanity to the sun is best expressed
in the Neolithic ruins of places like Stonehenge. In Neolithic societies, many ancient
people’s everyday lives revolved around natural processes. Many of our Neolithic
ancestors worshipped the sun and natural and inanimate world around them as a way to
express their thanks for the sacred experience of life. It was based on an understanding
that life is complex process where many things come together to create the wholeness of
life, and that this process revolves around the life giving or sustaining properties of the
sun.
Modern Method A: Humanity inside the circle of life tampering and altering natural
processes has tamed the brutish elements of the earth to initiate and stimulate wasteful
and complex industrial processes to sustain a modern lifestyle (Method A). The price
of humanity entering into the circle of life has meant that man has had to become more
machine-like to manage the sophisticated systems that we have been convinced are
necessary to a modern and civilized existence.
Modern Method B: Doug Balcombe says that passive solar (Method B) is important
because it is leading to an understanding of natural heating and cooling processes that has
led to experimentation with different building materials. Because of this experimentation
it is now possible to significantly reduce the amount of energy required to heat a building.
Passive solar design is a reapplication of technology towards more appropriate uses that
mitigate the environmental impact of human habits. Humanity on the periphery of the
circle—humanity in balance with nature.
By maximizing the yield of the sun in the design of our buildings, we not
only reduce heating bills and lighting bills, but also potential create interest
aesthetic aspects that are embedded in the building design. Materials will
be constructed with end use in mind as well as considering the embodied
environmental energy that went into the construction of that product.
Daylighting can reduce cooling costs. Yet there has been resistence to daylighting
particularly in schools. School officials apparently thought that daylighting for students
may distract the students (Doug Balcombe). It is best to bring light into the building at a
high point clear story or high windows and then diffuse the light to the rest of the space.
Lightshelves are one daylighting feature that can redirect the light from those windows
and reflect it to illuminate the rest of the building space.
Passive solar was innovated by hippies, which made it harder for these technologies to
be accepted by the mainstream. Enter Doug Balcombe who was one of several engineers
who used sophisticated performance analyses to quantify the positive effects of passive
solar design.
Water is the most efficient form of thermal mass. Roof ponds can be closed to create
a radiant ceiling or as a cooling strategy to reduce the heating process in Summer.
Problem with water is that it is difficult to keep it contained, and this is a very important
consideration in our living structures because we want them to be remain dry.
Greenhouses should not have East West glass. Windows for passive heating needed to be
orientated due south or up to 15 degrees in either direction.