New buildings can be designed to be solar oriented, naturally heated and cooled, naturally lit and ventilated, and made with renewable, sustainable materials—no matter the location or climate. In this comprehensive overview of passive solar design, two of America’s solar pioneers give homeowners, architects, designers, and builders the keys to successfully harnessing the sun and maximizing climate resources for heating, cooling, ventilation, and daylighting. Bainbridge and Haggard draw upon examples from their own experiences, as well as those of others, of more than three decades to offer both overarching principles as well as the details and formulas needed to successfully design a more comfortable, healthy, and secure place in which to live, laugh, dance, and be comfortable. Even if the power goes off. Passive Solar Architecture also discusses “greener” and more-sustainable building materials and how to use them, and explores the historical roots of green design that have made possible buildings that produce more energy and other resources than they use.

Revised and Expanded Edition - Includes CD-ROM with Custom Design Software For the past ten years The Passive Solar House has offered proven techniques for building homes that heat and cool themselves, using readily available materials and methods familiar to all building contractors and many do-it-yourself homeowners. True to this innovative, straightforward approach, the new edition of this best-selling guide includes CSOL passive solar design software, making it easier than ever to heat your home with the power of the sun. Since The Passive Solar House was first published, passive solar construction expert James Kachadorian has perfected user-friendly, Windows-compatible software to supplement the design process explained in the book by allowing homeowners/designers to enter the specifications of their design and see how changing a variable will affect its energy efficiency. This is the building book for a world of climbing energy costs. Applicable to diverse regions, climates, budgets, and styles of architecture, Kachadorian's techniques translate the essentials of timeless solar design into practical wisdom for today's solar builders. Profiles of successful passive solar design, construction, and retrofit projects from readers of the first edition provide inspiration to first-time homebuilders and renovators alike.

Energy use in buildings in the EU represents about 40% of the total annual energy consumption. With greater awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption comes a growth of interest in passive cooling, particularly as an alternative to air-conditioning. This book describes the fundamentals of passive cooling together with the principles and formulae necessary for its successful implementation. The material is comprised largely of information and results compiled under the SAVE European Research Programme.

The design and construction of the appropriate building envelope is one of the most effective ways for improving a building's thermal performance. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides the optimal solutions, tools and methods for designing the energy efficient envelopes that will reduce energy consumption and achieve thermal comfort and low environmental impact. Thermal Inertia in Energy Efficient Building Envelopes provides experimental data, technical solutions and methods for quantifying energy consumption and comfort levels, also considering dynamic strategies such as thermal inertia and natural ventilation. Several type of envelopes and their optimal solutions are covered, including retrofit of existing envelopes, new solutions, passive systems such as ventilated facades and solar walls. The discussion also considers various climates (mild or extreme) and seasons, building typology, mode of use of the internal environment, heating profiles and cross-ventilation - Experimental investigations on real case studies, to explore in detail the behaviour of different envelopes - Laboratory tests on existing insulation to quantify the actual performances - Analytical simulations in dynamic conditions to extend the boundary conditions to other climates and usage profiles and to consider alternative insulation strategies - Evaluation of solutions sustainability through the quantification of environmental and economic impacts with LCA analysis; including global cost comparison between the different scenarios - Integrated evaluations between various aspects such as comfort, energy saving, and sustainability