Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 09, 2014 10:20 am Im interested in some solar passive design help. Im building on an acreage in a cooler climate. The Max Mean temps throughout Summer range from 20-25 deg with winter months mean max reaching around 12 to 14 deg. The black we are considering has a nice north westerly aspect. Im not sure if im understanding the whole solar design concept as a lot of it is in relation to warmer climates and achieving cooling in the summer. So would i not be correct that saying in a climate with temperatures only reaching high twenties 10 to 15 days a year that the cooling aspect of the design is not as important and the heating in the autumn, winter and spring? I understand the concept of facing main living areas to the north but is it ideal in cooler climates to consider north west aspect so that you make the most of the warmer afternoon sun? A north west aspect for us would take advantage of an impressive rural view but i dont want to be to caught up in that. Really appreciate anyones experience building in cooler climates. Cheers Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 2Jan 09, 2014 11:10 am North facing is still the best. The trouble with westerly or even north westerley aspects is in summer its hard to shade from the afternoon/evening sun which can cause overheating of rooms in the evenings. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 3Jan 09, 2014 12:03 pm batey_1020 IThe black we are considering has a nice north westerly aspect. Im not sure if im understanding the whole solar design concept as a lot of it is in relation to warmer climates and achieving cooling in the summer. Oh no, not at all. It's very relevant to cold climates. batey_1020 I understand the concept of facing main living areas to the north but is it ideal in cooler climates to consider north west aspect so that you make the most of the warmer afternoon sun? A north west aspect for us would take advantage of an impressive rural view but i dont want to be to caught up in that. Rather than perhaps going off in the wrong direction with this discussion could I ask what exactly you understand the purpose of north facing to be, just so's we're both on the same page? Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 4Jan 09, 2014 1:08 pm Have a look at this thread here... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=55057 Lots of info and links as well as Brians website above http://www.anewhouse.com.au/ Stewie Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 5Jan 09, 2014 1:34 pm Thanks for the replies guys. Bashworth, As you mentioned overheating of rooms from westerly sun i guess im looking at this a little blindly as i haven't lived in cooler climates but i was making the assumption that having warmer rooms in the cooler climate is better. Now that i think about it i guess the desirable affect is to have something that maintains a reasonable level of comfort throughout all months. Jazzeyjess- I guess my understanding of it is to make the most of the positioning of the house to use natural heating and cooling affects with regards to the position of the sun through different times of the year. Is this on the right track? I was making the assumption that the heating affect during the summer months would be less of a concern with temperatures on average not exceeding 25 deg apart from a few days here and there but in the scheme of 365 days a year becomes a small percentage? Stewie D - Thanks for the links. Will be having a look through them this evening. Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 6Jan 09, 2014 1:49 pm Just got a chance to look through some of the Your Home Tech Manual that was provided in some of the links. Very Helpful. Thanks Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 7Jan 09, 2014 2:15 pm batey_1020 I was making the assumption that the heating affect during the summer months would be less of a concern with temperatures on average not exceeding 25 deg apart from a few days here and there but Even if the external temperature is around 25 degrees sun streaming in a westerly facing window can soon get the internal temperature to 30+ degrees. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 8Jan 09, 2014 2:28 pm batey_1020 As you mentioned overheating of rooms from westerly sun i guess im looking at this a little blindly as i haven't lived in cooler climates but i was making the assumption that having warmer rooms in the cooler climate is better. Now that i think about it i guess the desirable affect is to have something that maintains a reasonable level of comfort throughout all months. What region are you building in? I can totally confirm from experience in a couple of previous houses in southern mainland Australia that west facing rooms can get uncomfortable in summer. batey_1020 I guess my understanding of it is to make the most of the positioning of the house to use natural heating and cooling affects with regards to the position of the sun through different times of the year. Is this on the right track? The sun at different times of the year, yes. The further away from the equator you get, the lower in the sky the sun is during winter. So you can use that to your advantage by facing the equator (facing north in the southern hemisphere) and letting the sun shine right into your house to warm it up. In summer when the sun is higher in the sky the eaves keep the direct sunlight out of the windows. In spring and autumn it can get tricky though with the temperatures varying and the sun shining inside a little bit. Also any deviation off north changes things. There's an allowable deviation of so many degrees off north, I'm sorry but I don't remember offhand exactly how much. Any further and it compromises the benefits. But there's a lot more to it than that. We had the dilemma of a great view too. You can do things with size of windows and external shades and deciduous trees and so forth, you don't have to completely give up the view. Great idea of Stewie's to post a link to that thread, there's heaps of info there. I think that's where someone posted a diagram which shows how the sun moves and how the seasons and the orientation affect the house, I hope so, it was a really good diagram to help people visualise whats going on. Re: Solar Passive Design Help in cool climate 9Jan 14, 2014 10:38 am Bashworth, Thanks again for the input. Came to the same statement you made after doing research over the weekend. Finding it all very interesting. Jazzy Jess, Its amazing how simple it sounds when put like that. Once you get stuck into it there is certainly a lot to learn. Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction. 0 4984 G'day I'm trying to put in some privacy screening on my rental rooftop on a tight budget. I've already invested about $500 in the supplies for this. The issue is… 0 32244 I looked into it a few years ago and my conclusion was to just build a carport that will support panels and get a system installed separately. The company I looked at had… 1 6481 |