RE: [GBlist] Passive Solar/Thermal Mass Comparison

[Gavin Bowie <gbowie@GGA.com>]

Title: RE: [GBlist] Passive Solar/Thermal Mass Comparison

Mr Alden is fond of reminding us that this is a climate-specific problem, and he is right, in my estimation. Where exactly is the original querier? If you don't warm up your mass and you live in VT, you're going to have cold feet (or worse) in the winter. If you live in a predominantly heating climate, it is important to insulate one's thermal mass on the outside. If you live in a predominantly hot and humid climate, thermal mass won't help you much. If you live in an arid desert like AZ, uninsulated thermal mass will help regulate your temperature well. Others will, I am sure, comment on how exactly this works.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Zorz [mailto:RZorz@ScottsdaleChamber.com]

I exchanged e-mails with a member of the Oak Ridge staff.  In a nutshell, thermal mass is beneficial in predominantly warm clients, and he also said you'd be better off not heating up the mass to begin with.  In other words, my money would be better spent on less mass and more R-value.  But that's primarily because I live in AZ I think.