SB: SB: Passive solar SB designs

["Keith Rowe" <keithrowe@ezpost.com>]

At the risk of being tarred and feathered, or in this case, stucco-ed and
strawed, I'd like to add my two cents to a question that was never really
asked, but that maybe should be.

We talk of "passive solar design" in our structures, and Chris wisely has
sought information on it, as we did when my wife and I designed our SB home
a few years back. My question is this: Is there ever really a net energy
GAIN, over the course of a year, by using the concept of windows to heat our
homes?

The obvious answer is yes, but is it that simple? I happen to live in a
'passive solar SB house', in the wilds of Canada, designed in part by an
architect, and engineer with experience in the field of energy efficiency.
After two years here I have a few observations.

1)Windows are a huge sucker of energy, or at least they are at my latitude.
My windows are very high energy, fixed design with low e's and argon and
three panes and little gnomes inside them that tell the bad 'coldies' to
stay the heck out of the house, and they cost me a pretty penny even though
I built the frames myself. But do the math. On a SUNNY December the 21st I
get about 2 1/2 hours of energy coming in of any beneficial amount from the
sun, but for 24 hours of that day I have energy being sucked out of a big,
R-6 surface in an otherwise R-40 house.(don't start arguing with me about
the ins and outs of R values and how inaccurate they are, I'm just making a
point) I'd be floored if that equation came out in my favor.

2) We do need windows, because they give us views and light and such which
makes life worth living, so I think, at least in Canada, we need to look at
windows and say: "Well, we know they suck heat from the house, lets design
things so the LEAST amount of energy is lost." as opposed to: "Wow! If I buy
good windows and face them all south, I can kiss the evil energy companies
goodbye!"

3) A look at fenestration(a big fancy word that means 'the study of windows
and how they work, and using big words make me feel important') tells us
that as we go up in R value, we go down in transmitted radiant energy that
passes through the window. So we're fighting a losing battle in trying to
bring in the good stuff while keeping out the bad stuff. 

So ultimately, I say we use windows for light and views, orient as many
south as possible, keep them off the north side, accept that they will take
away energy, and move on to more important things, like  trying to figure
out how to spend more time with our kids, or why the dropped slice always
lands peanut butter side down...

Those are my thoughts, not yours.
Keith

P.S. I think I've figured out a truly efficient design, but I don't think
it's exactly passive... 

1) Make a house with a big central pillar, on which it rotates, and tilts
with the sun as it tracks across the sky, so the light is coming in the one
wall of windows the whole day. 
2) Screw, nail, or glue down all objects in the home so they don't slide
when the floor tilts. Practice balancing on this ever changing plane
3) Paint the inside of your house black to absorb ALL the heat from the sun.
4) Build huge blocks of solid styrofoam and as soon as your 'spidey senses'
tell you there is no longer an energy gain, run around the house and place
them carefully in the window cavities to seal them up. 
5) Get up before dawn,which will be a different time each day, and run
around taking out the styrofoam blocks. Find an appropriate place for them
so all your guests that come to visit you in your black, tilting, rotating
straw bale house won't trip over them.
6) Wind the big huge spring that moves the house around.
7) Have a nice life.

K






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