- solar passive design
- permaculture
- waste management
- energy efficiency
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Louvre windows high on eastern and western gable ends allow hot air to escape while also allowing the south-westerly sea-breeze to cool the homes naturally. Most householders do not use any form of space heating at all during the colder winter months or air-conditioning during summer. |
Solar Passive Design
| The concept behind solar
passive design is to capture the heat of the sun and store it inside
the of the building. In the southern hemisphere, orientating the
house on an east west axis, with a majority of the windows on the
north side will allow for maximum solar gain. The east and west
fronts should only consist of 15% windows compared to surface area,
while the south side will need to have enough windows for a good
cross ventilation. When the sun enters through the north facing
windows it will strike the floor of the house. This is where heat
will be gained and stored. Concrete and brick are called
"thermal mass". These will be the storers of heat energy
which will allow radiate through out the day and night. Tests done
on average temperature shoe very good results. With no heating in
the last seven months the lowest temperature outside has been 3.8
degrees Celsius, while inside the lowest temperature has been 16
degrees Celsius. This is a 13 degree difference! Below is a
graph showing the temperatures inside and outside the house.
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We still want to do some fine tuning such as applying curtains and solar pagodas to increase the efficiency to even a greater extent. Here are some pictures...
Click on thumbnails for a larger
version
(Dec 2006)