Passive Solar Buildings
Here's a refreshing concept: forget about using the air conditioner to cool your house in the middle of a scorching summer or using a furnace to heat your home in the frigid winter, instead, use a system that prevents your house from getting hot in the summer so there's no need to cool it, and prevents it from getting cold in the winter so you won't have to heat it.
How is this possible? The answer lies in passive-solar building designs. Joe Turner owns and lives in the very first certified "passive house" in the western United States. The walls of his house are thick, superinsulated, and airtight. The house is heated primarily by passive solar gain, by the people in it, and by the everyday appliances and electrical equipment inside it. However minute the heat generated by all the above, the housing structure is designed to be so efficient that it captures it all, significantly reducing the need for additional heat or cooling. The house uses about 90% less energy than an average existing home, and about 80% less energy than an average newly built home.
What are the other features that make it a passive solar building? Concrete countertops and floors increase the energy-storing thermal mass; solar shading graces the windows, hyper-attention to energy use makes the house hyper-comfortable, a shady maple and a photovoltaic system boost efficiency.
Passive-solar buildings are custom designed to exploit the sun's daily and seasonal cycles and maintain interior thermal comfort by using a heat exchanger instead of a furnace or an air conditioner.
The difference between a certified passive house and one with the highest-level LEED certification is that the passive house focuses exclusively on energy efficiency.
And the house is both cozy and beautiful. The thick concrete doesn't translate into ugly, bulky eyesores, but rather, clean lines, chic and modern designs that are functional and meaningfully beautiful.
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