[Madpaddy]

I know I've seen this topic here before so sorry for posting again.

I wonder does anybody have any recommendations for a book on the above topic?

Thanks in advance MP

[emersonbiggins]

I'd suggest limiting your western exposure, as most of your heat gain will occur through that glazing in the late afternoon. Also, windows facing north (Northern Hemisphere), especially clerestories, provide great indirect light, mitigating some of the need for artificial lighting.

As always, site considerations should be of the utmost priority.

[brobak]

You should check out www.sunplans.com for specific plans and designs. I actually built the Garden Atrium plan.

And I'll tell you, it works. Even in the heat of summer, last week I was out there finalizing the construction on the house, and it was 90 degrees outside, humid. But it was comfortable inside, just by opening the windows in the atrium and opening the windows on the north side. That air, combined with the very high mass in my floors and walls was keeping the house in the mid 70's inside. Awesome stuff. I'm extremely glad I built it.

[DavidFolks]

From my personal library, in no particular order:

Home Guide to Solar Heating and Cooling, Jackson Hand, copyright 1978, ISBN 06-0906502

The Passive Solar Energy Book, A complete guide to passive solar home, greenhouse and building design, Edward Mazria, copyright 1979, ISBN 0-87857-237-6

Super Solar Houses, William A. Shurcliff, copyright 1983, ISBN 0-931790-47-6

The Homeowner's Complete Handbook for Add-On Solar Greenhouses & Sunspaces, Andrew M. Shapiro, copyright 1985, ISBN 0-87857-507-3

Other Homes and Garbage, Designs for self-sufficient living, Jim Leckie, Gil Masters, Harry Whitehouse, Lily Young, copyright 1975, ISBN 0-87156-141-7

Low-Cost, Energy-Efficient Shelter for the Owner and Builder, Eugene Eccli, copyright 1976, ISBN 0-87857-114-0

The Autonomous House, design and planning for self-sufficiency, Brenda and Robert Vale, copyright 1975

Power with Nature, Solar and Wind Energy Demystefied, Rex A. Ewing, copyright 2003, ISBN 0-9658098-5-4

The Rewnewable Energy Handbook, A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living, William H. Kemp, copyright 2005, ISBN 0-9733233-2-9

Some of the info is dated, some construction meathods and materials have changed, but a lot of the principles are valid.

I would suggest a trip to your library first, and after you have researched all you can, try to purchase the most relavent book you find through amazon.com or some similar service, if out of print, or order it new through your local bookseller.

Hope this helps.

[Curmudgicus]

Read On

There is an engineering standard that has been developed in Germany in Darmstadt called "Passivhaus" that, in that climate at least, results in the house being heated and cooled year-round with no dedicated heating or cooling system. The Swiss have a similar standard called "Minenergie."

The construction standard requires solar orientation, heat retaining flooring, super-insulation, appropriate fenestration, extremely tight construction, and energy recovery ventilation. There is a downloadable spreadsheet for performance calculations.

There is a slowly dawning awareness in the US of the work at the institute, but energy here is still relatively cheap. Just wait a few years though and this could take off.

Here's a link to the institute. Click on the British flag for English language.

http://www.passiv.de/

[skyemoor]

Are you looking for ideas to propose to an architect/builder, or are you an engineer yourself who wants to participate closely in the design of your new home?

The former can give you many brushstroke leads, though rarely at the level of detail necessary for a full-up design.

I did the latter, being an engineer with a background in solar engineering. Weather and latitude of your area are two of the key drivers, along with site specifics. How one manages heat can be one of the most challenging issues in locations with hot, humid summers, for example.

Once I understand what you want to do with the information you are requesting, I can narrow down my suggested reading list.

[Ludi]

I like the book "Solviva" by Anna Edey, though it gets a little, um, squishy and fluffy in places...

Here's Edey's website:

http://www.solviva.com/

[thuja]

One of the things that I've noticed about new houses that bothers me is the very open floor plan where Great Rooms sometimes extend two stories to the cieling. This may be great for lighting, but is simply terrible for heating and cooling. Gigantic spaces require much more energy to keep hot and cold.

I look in my neighborhood to the Victorians of the late 1800's to find houses with lots and lots of doors. Rooms can then be individually heated as needed without having to heat an entire house. Of course those houses were very dark so I would add lots of double paned windows and a judicious use of south facing skylights to bring in passive lighting.

Of course this works best for northern climates- doors can then be opened to allow a free flow of air throughout a house. In tropical climates, large open floor plans where air can circulate easily is a great idea. But for me in the Northwest? Terrible idea...

[TreeFarmer]

I am just beginning the design phase for a home in southern Georgia (~50 miles north of Florida).

What suggestions do any of you have for a home where not much heat at all will be needed?

In southern Georgia the problems are cooling and humidity.

Thanks;

TreeFarmer

[DavidFolks]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreeFarmer', 'W')hat suggestions do any of you have for a home where not much heat at all will be needed?

In southern Georgia the problems are cooling and humidity.

[Ludi]

Some links about passive cooling:


link

[thuja]

And some ceiling fans- to circulate that air...

If you have the space build one story- that second floor will get super hot.

Make sure you build for rainwater catchment- The Southwest is in a major drought that could likely worsen. One idea is to actually build out a large underground cistern to store captured water. Water will be key- plan to store upwards of 10,000 gallons for a family of four.

[GuyFawkes]

Check out the Earthship design for an interesting exercise in passive solar earth berm homes. Uses active solar power and hot water, water catchment system, grey and blackwater systems. Internal greenhouse for food production that can help with part of your food needs. And it utilizes some of the refuse of old tires, cans, bottles as part of the building materials.

I am looking at home like this for my peak oil plan. www.earthship.net

Guy

[electric_future]

Double glazing is essential- even triple or quadruple glazing. It also helps with condensation and dampness, and UV-blocking coatings protect furniture and carpets.

Small windows on the shady side of the house, eaves to shade the summer sun and keep water away from possible ingress points.

If you have a gas heater use one with a two-way flue- i.e. it has both incoming cold air and outgoing exhaust gas in the flue. That way it isn't acting like an air pump.

Drafts must be minimised, so carpets where possible.

Upgrade your insulation to the highest r-value you can get. Don't use brick or concrete if it's a cold climate, they are pretty hard to heat- however they are good in hot climates.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', 'f') you have the space build one story- that second floor will get super hot.

[skyemoor]

In the winter, trapping the heat on the first floor is important. In the summer, one wants to prevent its entrance or to allow it to exit via a chimney effect, as noted above.

Multi level rooms (such as foyers) prevent the former but help the latter. A stairwell doorway with a closeable door enables the former when the door is kept closed, and enables the latter when the door is left open.

We have a 2 story passive solar home and have no multi-level rooms. There is no closeable door to the upstairs, so the downstairs is cooler than the upstairs.

[skyemoor]

For those who want to design the passive solar aspects to their new home,
The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook is fairly comprehensive, though it's a little dated and a knowledge of thermodynamics would be a good prerequisite, which you can find in Thermal Analysis and Design of Passive Solar Buildings. Malcolm Well's books, such as The Earth-Sheltered House: An Architect's Sketchbook is great for idea generation and evaluation, especially for those who want to sort through the possibilities in conjunction with an architect or builder.

There are a number of engineering tools out there to assess heat load calculation and solar input, many of them expensive. If you want to get your hands dirty for free, download Solar-2. While somewhat limited, it's fascinating to use and one can use it for whole house analysis if they do it room by room, or floor by floor (depending on how open the floor plan is).

[gg3]

1) Be careful to not pay exclusive attention to the "operating system" at the expense of the "user interface." For example...

a) Those little windows (ventilators) above the doors can be good for moving air around, but:

You don't always want to "share the air" throughout a building. The most obvious item is when someone has a contagious illness, you want their room under negative air pressure venting to the outside of the building, otherwise everyone in the building can catch what they've got. All the more so during a pandemic.

In shared households of whatever kind, "shared air" complicates household management issues re. smoking/nonsmoking, cooking preferences ("whatever you're cooking down there stinks!"), and also acoustical issues (where goes air, also goes sound) (music, sex, hours awake/sleeping, etc.). The more time you spend doing household administration, the less time you have for subsistence and time off.

Consider using solid panels instead of glass for these ventilators if they are truly needed. Solid panels will at least provide better visual & acoustical privacy when they're closed.

Ventilation pattern for bathrooms should be: air comes in at a level below the shower, and exits near or from the ceiling, to take out steam during showers (steam buildup can cause bathroom paint to deteriorate more rapidly, and can lead to mold growth).

The bathroom floorplans I've designed have the entrance adjacent the shower/tub, the sink next, and the toilet at the back (next to the wall that faces the outside of the building) with a separate door that can be closed. Using opaque glass in the shower/tub door, one person can be taking a shower while another comes in to use the toilet, and both have visual & acoustical privacy. This can reduce the number of bathrooms needed in a house and thereby allow a smaller overall floor plan.

Placing the sink between the toilet and the main door to the bathroom, reinforces the point that people should wash their hands every time they use the toilet. The ventilation system consists of a fan on the outside wall, with an inlet above the shower and another above the toilet: thus removing steam and toilet odors at the same time.


b) Lots of rooms, lots of doors:

Yeah, I dislike "open" floorplans too, very much so. Too much visual clutter, not enough privacy, heating/cooling issues, and they're a weakness in earthquakes.

With a larger number of smaller rooms you have the choice as to how to use the rooms, which ones to heat and cool, and you can accommodate emergency guests more easily if needed (in the community, we call emergency guests "R&Rs" for "relatives & refugees"). You can have one or more people in the "library" reading or telling stories, while someone else is in the "media room" watching a movie, while another is in the "home office" online with email, and no noise-interference between them.

c) General design princple: If it has a door or entrance on opposite walls, it's not a "room" it's a "hallway." A "room" needs to have space that's not subject to people walking through on their way to & from somewhere else.

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2) Re. "earthships."

It doesn't go in the water so it's not a "ship" (where did they come up with that name anyway?).

More significantly, scrap tires are hazardous waste. Why anyone would want to build a house out of haz waste is beyond me. And in the event of a fire catching to the tires (lightning strike, electrical fire), they will burn underground until they have all burned out, emitting a toxic sulphurous smoke that will cause the rest of your community to have to evacuate. Go look up "tire fires."

You can use other interesting design ideas from the "earthship" book without having to expose yourself to haz waste risks.

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3) General design principle: conduits & pipes!

Put in conduit for all of your electrical & telecom, and put in the pipes for graywater recycling, before you close up the walls.

Then if you make any changes to these infrastructure items, you can do them without having to tear walls up.

Telecom should have at minimum a) a Cat 3 voice cable to every room, terminated to two RJ-14 outlets, b) a Cat 5 or 5e or 6 data cable to each room, terminated as per T-568-B to an RJ-45 outlet, and c) video cable to each room, standard coax terminated to a faceplate that allows using a separate station cable to the video system (our company doesn't do a lot of residential so I don't know the specific part numbers for the video stuff). The idea that all you need is data cable or coax is absurd since it locks you into specific architectures and prevents you changing your mind later.

For graywater, consider laundry to toilet, and shower to toilet, and run pipes as needed. Laundry to toilet is easiest to accommodate without having to modify the plumbing itself. If you plan on reusing laundry rinse water as wash water for subsequent loads, you may need separate storage tanks for each person in the household, so if laundry is on the main floor and rinse water storage is in the basement, run the anticipated number of pipes in advance just in case.

Always install a two-compartment sink in the kitchen. This facilitates a number of options for saving water while washing dishes, including the use of dishwasher rinse water as dish soak water (thereby allowing use of a short cycle in the dishwasher since a "scrub" cycle isn't needed).

---

that's all for now....

[BobWallace]

Start by understanding your climate, in all seasons, and your building site. What might work in one situation (minimizing western windows, for example) might not be important, or even a bad idea, in another.

Are you going to have a lot of 'heating days' or a lot of 'cooling days' or a lot of both?

Do you have a building site with a good or bad wind pattern (in various seasons). And particular advantages/disadvantages presented by large trees, existing structure, etc.?

Try to understand your needs before settling on answers.

In my case, and my situation may be very different from yours, I have a definite winter heating need. That means, for me, south facing windows as we have a lot of sunny days in late fall through early spring when the weather is coldest.

And, since I cut and split my own wood, I wanted to minimize the amount of space that I really needed to heat on the coldest days. So I built a "great room" design - living room, kitchen, and modest eating space in one large room. I insulated the ceiling and walls that connect it to the rest of the house. That means that I can keep my heated space to a minimum. (I open the upstairs bedroom door a half hour or so before going to bed and let that room warm a bit.)

But that design might not work at all for a larger family who has a need for more private space. So understand your lifestyle before you build.

And build something that you enjoy living in.

If you've got a killer view to the north, then figure out some way to enjoy it while minimizing your heating needs. You could, for example, create a "non-sun" room on the north side, an enclosed porch which would serve as a temperature buffer that allows 'see through' in the winter and a cool place to hang out in the summer.

Read a couple of good passive solar books. The basic ideas are easy to grasp. And then design an enjoyable structure with those principles in mind.

You might want to get a copy of "A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction" by Alexander. A most wonderful book that doesn't need reading from front to back. Pick it up and open it at random and read a bit. That bit, if applicable to your situation, will lead you to another section. It can get you thinking about houses (and other buildings) in an entirely new way. It can help you understand how the design of your house will effect your lifestyle.