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Passive solar design
Passive solar design uses the sun to warm the house. Good solar design will help you save on your energy bills and reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Passive solar design incorporates several basic principles:
- Optimal orientation of the house and its living spaces with respect to the sun so that the house captures as much free solar energy as possible where and when its needed
- Good window design and placement; for example using larger north facing windows to help capture the sun and smaller south-facing windows to reduce heat loss
- Use of building materials such as concrete, stone or tile on sun-exposed floors and walls to capture and store the sun’s heat within the house and release it later when its required
- Use of adequate levels of insulation, including double glazing, to conserve the heat once its captured within the house
If you are building a new house it’s a great opportunity to consider incorporating some passive solar design features into it. Such a house will save you a lot of money with only a little extra upfront cost.
If you are renovating, this is also a good time to consider upgrading your home’s passive solar design features.
Find out more - For further reading on passive solar design download the excellent guide put out by the Waitakere City Council.
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