 |
As you can see the south side has many windows.
About 40% of the south wall is window allowing plenty of light and heat to
shine in during the winter.
But in July as seen here the overhangs fully shade the windows.
While allowing for plenty of indirect light, shading from direct sunlight
saves on air conditioning. |
 |
This photo shows how by mid-May through August the windows
are nearly completely shaded.
One can also see the trees planted on the west side of the house which
will grow to shade the home from the afternoon sun. |
 |
Here is a photo from December and you can clearly see how
the winter sun is coming in all the south facing windows.
Even when the outside temperature is on the low 20'sF, the sun provides
all the daily heat needs and part of the night. This gives us 12- 20 hours
of FREE heat during and after a sunny day. |
 |
This is the west side of the house. You can see the
plastic fastening strips every 8 inches on the ICF wall. This makes
for easy attachment of siding. The siding was screwed on for extra
durability but you can nail to the strips. The only problem we had
was at the corners were we had to attach a piece of thin sheet metal to
give an attachment point on the edge.
You can also see our only window on the west side minimizing
afternoon heat gain in the summer. |
 |
The north side has few windows. Just enough for some
cross ventilation. We only have 3% of the surface area covered with
glass on the non-south walls.
The heat pump is located on the north east side of the house shading it
most all day. By shading your heat pump you can save 5-10% off
of cooling costs. Ideally the heat pump should be located on the east side
to catch the morning winter winter sun as well.
|
 |
The front yard begins to take shape.
We plan to add additional deciduous trees to help give additional summer
shading. Then in the winter the trees will shed their leaves allowing the winter sun
to shine in.
One potential problem with a solar home is most of your glass area is
on the south which in our case faces the road. To gain some privacy
we built the 1/2 wall and bermed planting area to shield us from the neighbors.
|
