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SOLAR ENERGY.
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In building a house. Uses, effectiveness, types, functions.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
In building a house. Uses, effectiveness, types, functions.
Paper Introduction:
INCORPORATING SOLAR ENERGY
IN THE BUILDING OF A HOUSE
The incorporation of solar energy into the building of a house can greatly reduce the cost of heating or cooling the house, even when used along with conventional means of energy production and uses. This paper will discuss several different aspects of incorporating solar energy into residential living quarters and will touch on the subjects of sighting and orientation of the house and solar panels, the window locations and. overhang, plants and vegetation, the solar collectors or cells, and thermal mass storage. The usefulness of solar energy will also be discussed.
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Sunset Homeowner's Guide to Solar Heating.Menlo Park, California: Lane Publishing Company, 1978.Gropp, Louis. Water is pumped through these tubes andin turn will heat a large body of water in a storage tank somewhere in thehouse. The reason for this is that insummer, the shade of the tree will help cool the house and keep out thesun; in the winter, without leaves, the sun is free to land on the houseand heat it as best it can (Ibid. Solar Houses. But with a passive system, it can be on the roof, or on a south-facingshed, or on the roof of the garage, or on a freestanding shed in thegarden, etc. The KarenTerry house (see illustration) is an example of direct gain in a passivesolar system (Ibid. The practical way of collecting and utilizing this solar energyis by making use of solar collectors (Strahler 65). 157). New York: JohnWiley & Sons, 1987.----------------------- 6 45). This overhang minimizesunwanted summer heat gain. The second illustration shows the relationship betweenoutdoor and indoor temperatures at the Kelbaugh house in Princeton, NewJersey, which is based on this principle (Ibid. Water ponds, which may be enclosed in plastic bags, are on theroof, which is also the ceiling of the inside room. The storagemust be contained in the structure of the house itself. Masonry andwater are the two most common materials used for heat storage. These tubes carry circulatingwater, may be made out of aluminum or copper, and are usually painted blackto absorb more heat from the sun. In a roof pond system, the thermal mass is located on the roof of thebuilding. 47). The Passive Solar Energy Book. This system was perfected by Harold Hay in 1967(Ibid. In a passive solar system, the glass or transparent plastic must befacing south for solar collection, and thermal mass for heat absorption,storage and distribution. This type of system isequally suited to cooling and heating. Of course, the solar windows are, again, facingsouth. Shade trees -- ones that have a large amount of leavesin summer, yet shed their leaves in winter -- are perfect in complementingthe work done by the house's solar system. It is here that the heatcan then be transferred to the spaces in a building by a mechanicaldistribution system (Mazria 28). First of all, once theinitial cost is laid out, it is an extremely inexpensive form of energyusage. The usefulness of solar energy will also be discussed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.McCullagh, James C., editor, et al. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1978.Mazria, Edward. The house itself, with its masonry walls and high heat-holding capacity, is considered the thermal mass storage unit. In passive solar systems,instead of having separate collectors, moving mechanical parts or storagetanks, the thermal energy flows in the system through natural means; thatis, it flows by means such as radiation, conduction or natural convection.In passive systems, part of the house or building will actually be thesystem itself. Modern Physical Geography. Solar energy can be used to heat interior building space or hot-watersystems. This also reduces the heat lossinto the atmosphere. When hardware and mechanical systems areused to collect and transport heat, this is considered an active solarsystem. It is amazing how naturallyoccurring instances such as this can make us believe that perhaps we don'tneed conventional heating and cooling nearly as much as we believe that wedo. 29). INCORPORATING SOLAR ENERGY IN THE BUILDING OF A HOUSE The incorporation of solar energy into the building of a house cangreatly reduce the cost of heating or cooling the house, even when usedalong with conventional means of energy production and uses. When considering adding asolar energy system to an already existing house, this is a main point toconsider (Antolini 4 ). Indirect gain consists of thermal storage walls or roof ponds. In this way, the greenhouse does not need tostore its own heat, and also, a well-designed greenhouse can deliver moreheat to the house than it uses itself (McCullagh 6). Since this is wherepeople spend most of their time, it makes sense that these rooms would havefirst priority in heating (Gropp 9 ). After the initialcost is recovered, it is cheaper, cleaner, and does just as good a job asconventional heating and cooling methods. These twoadvantages alone are two ways of looking at an individual and globalproblem and seeing great advantages for both in the use of solar power. The main areas of living in a house may also face south in order tomaximize the heat generated by the large windows. Emmaus, PA: RodalePress, 1979.Strahler, Arthur N., et al. There will be no imported energy into thesystem, such as electricity, to power fans or pumps to operate the solarsystem, as in an active system (Ibid.). Another type of greenhouse,however, is house-attached; that is, it may have a common wall in whichvents are provided from the house to the greenhouse, or it may actually bepart of the house itself, built over existing doorways or windows, and thetwo exchange air freely. At night, the ponds are covered to hold in the heat. The sun has a natural warming, soothing effect, and tapping intothis resource could be one of the smartest things that modern society hasever done. 56). If a greenhouse for vegetation is desired, these are also based onactive and passive systems, the same way that a residential house is. Another aspect of solar heating which may be considered when decidingon an active or passive solar system is that with a passive system, thesystem is built into the house, and so naturally, that is where it must be. In the winter, during the day, theheat is collected by the roof ponds; the heat is then transferred to theroom below. In the Trombe house in Odeillo, France, which was built on this principle,seventy percent of the energy needs of this house are supplied by solarenergy (Ibid. It need not be built specifically into the house, and thehouse need not be built specifically for it. Ofcourse, most greenhouses are away from the main house, and separate fromthem, and so they have separate heating needs. The distributionof heat must occur naturally. They can work well in cloudyclimates, where active systems may not be able to function as adequately.Passive systems make use of the term "direct gain." What this means isthat "the actual living space is directly heated by sunlight" (Ibid. There are, however, passive solar systems. In the direct gain approach, "there is anexpanse of south-facing glass and enough thermal mass, strategicallylocated in a space, for heat absorption and storage" (Ibid.). The solar collectors may also be covered with glass or clearplastic to result in higher temperatures. In the thermal storage wall system, there is a south-facing glass which isfour inches or more directly in front of a thermal mass (masonry or water). Works CitedAntolini, Holly Lyman. Theopposite occurs in the summer to cool the house: The roof ponds are coveredduring the day to keep them cool; at night the covers are taken off to coolthe bags for the next day. 42). Solar collectors are achoice of solar energy producers for a house, but are not necessarily thepreferred choice. The choice of vegetation which surrounds the house is also animportant matter. The overhang is deep and is at a perpendicularangle to the windows. 43). Incredible as it may seem, some houses are actually built into theearth, with the only visible "wall" a glass window of solar panels. Another, and equally important reason, is that using solar energydoes not produce any environmental pollution, and it also does not heat upthe atmosphere by sheer energy production and the emission of sulfurdioxide or carbon particles as the burning of fossil fuels does. For, what is more natural thanthe sun? As we have seen, there is much to be said for installing a solarenergy system, whether active or passive, in a house. The windows on the south areusually very large to accommodate as much solar energy to penetrate them aspossible, while the windows on the north side may be very small in ordernot to allow the solar energy generated to escape and to minimize heatloss. Solar power as an energy source seems a very attractive alternativeto conventional sources of energy for many reasons. When the heat from the solar collectors is transported either to arock bin or water tank, or a combination of both, this is considered thetransfer of the solar heat to the storage unit. Another approach to passive solar heating is that of "indirect gain"(Ibid. Themasonry walls of the house keep in the heat, and the roof may even havegrass growing on it! The Solar Greenhouse Book. Houses can be built in any sighting and orientation imaginable, butthe windows still have to be facing south. Solar collectors, however, consist of a flat-platecollector with a network of metal tubes. Also in passive solar heating, above the large wall of windows whichcreates the solar heat is oftentimes an overhang. And, in many ways, we arelearning to respect the natural energy which is in abundance all around us;we are in essence living more with nature. This paperwill discuss several different aspects of incorporating solar energy intoresidential living quarters and will touch on the subjects of sighting andorientation of the house and solar panels, the window locations and.overhang, plants and vegetation, the solar collectors or cells, and thermalmass storage. Passive systems, besides requiring no extra energy sources, canactually collect and use more solar energy than an active solar system,because they are working constantly.
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