Anyone who has been in a solar house, on a cold winter day has felt thearmth and comfort of its natural radiant heat. In 1958, solar pioneer Peteran Dresser built his first solar-heated house, one of the two oldest in thenited States. In this book van Dresser lays out in text and illustration therinciples an owner builder will need to know in siting, designing, buildingnd living in their solar house. Several sample house plans, ideas for solarot water heaters, and plans for solar crop dryers give the solar enthusiasthe basic information they will need to begin plans on their efficient home.his book shows that solar energy can be economically harnessed by simpleeans. Means that are within the grasp of the average homeowner and builder.

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.

Sustainable Advanced Solar Passive House provides a platform to disseminate knowledge regarding the basics of solar energy, heat transfer, and solar houses, including designing concepts. Apart from a brief introduction to solar physics and thermodynamics, the book primarily deals with the technical description of solar houses and associated concepts. Different types of photovoltaic modules and their integration with the buildings are discussed with case studies, including energy balance equations and fundamental energy matrices. It discusses concepts like energy matrices, solar passive heating/cooling, architecture design, low-cost building, energy/exergy analysis, building integrated photovoltaic, and energy conservation.

As fossil fuel supplies dwindle, home heating will be one of the major challenges in temperate and cold climates in upcoming years. The reserves of natural gas used to heat the majority of North American buildings are rapidly being depleted. This latest Green Energy Guide helps readers who want to slash their energy bills and reduce their dependence on scarce resources to navigate the sometimes confusing maze of clean, reliable, and affordable options. Solar Home Heating Basics focuses on renewable energy strategies to heat new and existing homes and small businesses. These include: *Energy efficiency, weatherization, and insulation *Solar hot air heating *Solar thermal systems *Passive solar heating *Backup heating systems While most solar home heating resources are geared primarily towards new buildings, this practical guide addresses ways of retrofitting existing buildings, making solar a reality for many people. Packed with all the essential information home and small business owners need to find alternatives to conventional heating solutions, Solar Home Heating Basics is your key to a personal energy solution. Dan Chiras is a respected educator and the author of thirty books on residential renewable energy and green building, including The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy and Power from the Sun. Dan is the director and lead instructor at the Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building, where he teaches workshops on energy efficiency, solar electricity, solar hot water, small wind energy, green building, natural plasters, and natural building.

Passive solar design refers to design strategies that minimize or eliminate the need to heat or cool a building mechanically. This sourcebook of details, drawings and case studies of passive solar buildings throughout the U.S. provides is a complete guide to passive solar design and construction.

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.

Solar energy is an abundant resource. Once a curiosity, solar electric systems are becoming commonplace. As we transition away from finite and polluting fossil fuels, clean, reliable, and affordable renewable technologies such as solar electricity will become the mainstay of our energy supply. Solar Electricity Basics provides a clear understanding of the sun, solar energy, and solar electric systems. It discusses the theoretical, practical and economic aspects of residential solar installations including: Inverters Batteries and controllers Costs of solar electric systems Financial incentives System installation and maintenance Permits, covenants, utility interconnection and buying a system. Whether your goal is to lower your energy bill through a grid-connected system or to achieve complete energy independence, Solar Electricity Basics is the introduction you need-no PhD required!

Our pocket reference books provide a wealth of practical information at your fingertips, whenever you need it. Rich in background detail, at-a-glance tables and diagrams, equations, and more, the Passive Solar Architecture Pocket Reference is a handy resource for architects, engineers and students. Coverage includes: definitions load determinants and Responses (including world wide biomes and climates, building metabolism and response, thermal sources and sinks, passive building responses to sources and sinks, tuning the building to the environment, optimizing insulation & thermal mass for comfort) contextual aspects (including microclimate and siting, temperatures, humidity, wind, radiation and comfort parameters passive components (including building envelope, passive solar terminology, orientation, apertures and glazing, thermal storage, thermal control and materials design tools (including sun path diagrams, sun peg diagrams, air flow relationships, thermal modelling and life cycle design specific functions (including passive heating, passive cooling and ventilation, natural lighting, passive water heating, resource collection and integrated design).

Winner of the 1993 LoPresti Award for excellence in art publishing Cracker homes take the best advantage of the climate and terrain of Florida. This book provides a history of Florida wood-frame architecture, from the simplest "single-pen" homesteads to the latest homes at Seaside, and includes several floor plans for new adaptations of classic Cracker architecture. Learn about the double-pen house, the classic dogtrot, the four-square Georgian, the Cracker townhouse, and much more with this exploration of Florida's orginal architecture. Includes several floor plans for new adaptations of classic Cracker architecture.

While heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved. Yet "natural conditioning"--Heating and cooling with passive solar techniques -- is a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Acknowledging the good intentions of misguided solar designers in the past, the author highlights certain egregious errors and shows how to avoid them. The author shows how to select a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly backup heating system; how to preserve indoor air quality in an airtight, energy-efficient home; and ways of employing green building materials in a naturally conditioned home.