Posted on 09/25/2014 11:16:29 AM PDT by Prophet2520
Besides the obvious advantage of a free heating source (as long as the sun continues to rise and set) we have discovered a few more advantages:
(Excerpt) Read more at livinggreenmag.com ...
Depends on where you live. In the Southwest passive solar is known as “cooling bill from hell”, we want shade between us and the sun, it’s much cheaper to heat in the winter than cool in the summer.
thanx. i’m a big casablanca fan fan
I thought that “active solar” is a photovoltaic cell that directly generates electricity and passive is everything else related to using the heat energy from the sun.
There are some systems that focus the suns energy at a point and heat water to turn turbines. That would be a hybrid system?
Having power — exactly.
thanx!
i’m working on the air circulation issue by having a small model train running alongside the perimeter walls (except garage). that will leave 6 inch holes in the ceiling area into each room, that i can camoflage small fans...
i’ve seen concrete molding made of a styrofoam material that you build the wall and just pour in the concrete. you don’t even remove them, they insulate the wall. been thinking about that for exterior walls. don’t know about it’s long term reliability
In other words, design for your climate.
Generally anything that uses a motor, fan, water pump etc that has moving parts and is usually powered by electricity is considered active. There is nothing wrong with active and hybrid systems. I just like to be clear what I am talking about because so many people believe that everything solar is very expensive. This belief is based on poor information about PV and solar hot water systems. Many don’t even recognize that passive solar is cheap and very different. That said even the PV misconception is based on prices from 8 to 30 years ago. PV is very cheap now relative to even coal. Still a big high use house system could cost $15K. Passive is so much cheaper.
I haven’t heard of any long term reliability problems, but I suspect it is just about as reliable as a concrete foundation with rigid insulation put outside.
I have no experience with those gizmos
“Depends on where you live. In the Southwest passive solar is known as “cooling bill from hell”, we want shade between us and the sun, it’s much cheaper to heat in the winter than cool in the summer.”
Earth sheltering is just as helpful in the Southwest. Think Mesa Verde. Thermal mass is also just as beneficial. Air pulled through cool underground thermal exchange pipes either actively or passively can cool the thermal mass in the house even on hot nights.
Passive solar should not let in direct summer sun whether built in the northeast, southwest or anywhere . If properly designed 95% of the summer heat gain in a passive solar home is from the lower R value of windows compared to walls, not from sunlight.
Here are some Southwest plans for passive solar.
http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/southwest/passive+solar
I am not endorsing these plans as great or anything, just found them quickly.
here are some builder links
http://www.southwestsustainablebuilders.com/
http://austinpassivesolar.com/about-us
http://doerr.org/architecture/commercial/southwest.html
or passive solar cooling solutions that are more effective in the dry southwest
http://www.southwest-solar.com/humiditycoolerperformance/
You are talking about ICF(Insulated Concrete Forms). The advantage of these is you can set up the forms yourself. At this point this construction method is more expensive the standard wood framing. Plus, you still need to frame out around the windows and the doors. The floors are still built conventionally. The only thing that would concern me in Maine is the potentially for carpenter ants to nest in the outer panel of foam insulation.
Keep in mind, heat rises from natural convection. Therefore, most of your heat loss is through your roof, windows and doors. It is not through the walls or foundation of the house. Frankly, a 2x4 framed wall with sprayed in closed cell foam insulation not only gives you plenty of R value, it also eliminates the need for a vapor
barrier. Other methods of construction from standard western framing lead to higher costs with your other contractors(plumbing and electrical).
also note this thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3208141/posts?page=13
iirc they also have one width, which might complicate multiple storey construction
Ya. You have to do a complete ROI including maintenance.
One thing that makes photo cells less compelling is that you have to up convert the power to AC to make it useful. Too bad that our houses are not wired for DC power AND the appliances, etc. that we use aren’t wired for DC. A lot of our stuff down converts the AC to DC to make it useful. Anything that uses an AC motor wouldn’t work. But maybe a resistive appliance like a stove might work. Who knows.
Long distance distribution was always the issue for DC and why AC won out (Tesla’s AC versus Edison’s DC).
I was contrasting passive solar, which captures heat only, to solar panels, which convert light to electricity.
Exactly. Apples and oranges.
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