passive solar design and architecture

Passive solar heating and cooling are largely dependent on design and architecture. Elements like trombe walls, wing walls, attached sunrooms, windows, thermal reflectance and thermal storage of the construction materials are crucial to get a natural heating and cooling, and they are defined by design and architecture..

Passive solar design

Unlikely active cooling and active heating techniques, based on solar water heaters or in wind energy, passive solar techniques rely extensively upon elements defined by design and architecture:

- the orientation and layout of the house;
- the role of the windows and skylights in the home's ventilation and lighting;
- the materials used in the building, and their thermal mass;
- the role of natural ventilation and shading...

See: Passive solar cooling, Passive solar heating, Passive Solar Plans

Specific elements

Because they rely largely upon architectural features, passive solar design may include specific elements like...

- trombe walls
- wing walls or
- attached sunrooms

Sunrooms

A sunroom glazed area can be used as an element of passive solar heating, in colder climates. Sunrooms may reduce the heat loss and increase the heat gains of a building, and also release valuable heat at night.

See, for details about sunrooms: Basics on sunrooms

Trombe Walls

A trombe wall is a high-mass masonry wall (8-16 inch-thick) with a glazing on its exterior south-facing side (or north-facing in southern hemisphere countries). That's a characteristic passive heating element in cold climates, and its goal is to absorb the sun's heat during the day and to radiate it into nearby house structures during nighttime in winter and mid-seasons .

The glazing element of trombe walls involve a single or double glass layer mounted about 1 inch from the front of the stone surface. The stone wall – with a dark-colored outside – is the absorbing medium. It's the stone that absorbs solar heat during the sunny hours and releases it during the night.

Trombe wall: an element of passive solar house heating in cold climates