Passive Solar Heating - Glass is all you need

Zero Energy Design® abundant, clean, free-fuel, passive solar energy can easily eliminate the need to burn expensive dirty fossil fuels to heat air and water in most populated locations.

The lowest-cost way to get started is Passive Solar Design - All it needs is well-designed, properly-oriented glass. Two our our key Zero Energy Design® concepts are: (1) Isolated Solar Gain in a greenhouse / solarium, and (2) Our unique Thermal Buffer Zone, which uses free natural convection air flow to move warm air from the sunny greenhouse to the cold opposite side of the building. By Larry Hartweg ZEDmaster@ZeroEnergyDesign.com

See more details on our ZeroEnergyDesign and PassiveSolarInfo websites.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Passive
• solar
• heating
• energy
• design
• sustainable
• zero
• homes
• buildings
• solarium
• greenhouse
• sun
• room
• sunroom

[spystyle]

Are there any houses like this in new England?

[ZeroEnergyDesign]

Sure. The basic south-facing Salt Box has been built in New England since before 1645. See "Saltbox" in Wikipedia.

[brewsterbud]

Keep the heat storage source separate and sealed - swimming pools in the house are nothing but trouble.

[ZeroEnergyDesign]

Our pool is NOT "in the house" Its isolated in its solarium. Its typically only used an hour a day. The rest of the time its sealed with a cover that blocks evaporation. When the solarium temperature rises, fresh air comes in at the base of the ZED Thermal Buffer Zone through two 100'-long 6'-deep earth cool tubes. Hot air and humidity exhaust out the top through 3 turbine vents that total 7200 CFM. When the poolroom cools, the vents seal - Simple, easy, well-thought 1979 ZED solutions.

[MSEELady]

Nice video on showing how passive solar techniques really work and still keep the beautiful. This shows we don't have to live below ground in caves. My next home will be designed with these features.

[bhalldatametrics]

This great site for glass and solar technology.

[ZeroEnergyDesign]

See our Zero Energy Design®

"Affordable, Low-Energy, Low-Income Housing" detailed design material on our ZED CD-ROM

[321ozzy]

Great and informative video.

If only more people got interested to stop those CO2 gasses to ruin the environment.

In Mexico there is a big shortage of water, however, if most people had a rainwatercollector to use rainwater to flush toilets - the shortage would disappear immediately.

I have a simple solar water heater that saves up to 50% of my gas use, another CO2 reducer.

Simple solutions to simple problems, the point is, people do not think about them.

Regards from Mexico

[ZeroEnergyDesign]

Skylights allow high sun in to create a solar furnace in the summer, while reflecting 47-degree lower sun in the winter. In stark contrast, wind-powered rooftop turbine vents exhaust hot air in the summer, and then have a positive-seal dampler that closes when the Thermal Buffer Zone cools down - VERY Different indeed.

[RMCrowley]

i meant the ones he has on top of the roof?

they are sort of like a skylight which he says are bad

[copefarms]

I would venture to say 99% of al houses in the United States have roof vents. Have you ever been in the attic of a house? there is a ridge vent, the eaves are open vents, and there are sometimes peak vents on either end of the house.

You would never want to seal a house completely. Moisture buildup would cause the wood decking of most roofs to rot so you must allow venting. Its common building practices.

[ducksaregreat15]

Smart design = savings and good living. I grew up in a solar passive home and loved it. Such simple technology is awesome.