Passive Solar House Design & Architecture


Passive solar house: the importance of design and architecture

A passive solar house is a building that uses design and architecture to get the right sun gains without overheating and/or cooling. In other words: a passive solar house gets its cooling and heating needs from surrounding landscape, climate and natural elements, thanks to its....

- shape and orientation
- windows system
- trees planted around it, or other shading elements
- materials used on walls, floor or roof (thermal mass)
- etc.


General and specific elements of passive solar design

Contrarily to active solar techniques (based on solar collectors), a passive solar house doesn’t involve any particular devices. It’s mainly a question of design and architecture – which doesn’t mean that it can't use solar energy or other techniques and devices.

Passive solar design may include specific elements as...
- trombe walls
- wing walls or
- attached sunrooms

But in many cases it’s just design involving elements as the orientation of the house, a planned window system,  thermal mass, ventilation and shading.


Sunrooms

A sunroom – as a glazed home space - can be a piece of passive solar house heating purposes in cold climates. Sunspaces can reduce the house's heat loss and increase the heat gains and the heat available at night.

See, for details about sunrooms: Basics on sunrooms


Trombe Walls

A trombe wall is a high-mass masonry wall (8-16 inch-tick) with a glazing on its exterior south facing side used as a passive solar house heating technique in cold climates. Its goal is to absorb winter and mid-seasons sun during the day and to radiate it into the house during nighttime.

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



Image credit: EERE


Passive solar design

See for more details:
Passive solar plans basics
Passive solar cooling
Passive solar heating
Overhangs
House Orientation and Shape
Landscape and trees
House Natural and Mechanical Ventilation
Energy efficient windows, doors and skylights
Solar protection
Awnings and screens
Pergolas and House Shading
House Shading, Trees and Shrubs
Shading and climate zones
Windbreaks for your house
Where to plant trees and shrubs

American Solar Energy Society, Inc.
www.ases.org

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