http://www.dsireusa.org/
A quick link to a website that provides information on state incentives for Green technologies. I haven't looked at any states outside CT, but for CT the listing looks pretty thorough. Certainly more so than many other sites I've drifted across.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Pattern #159: Light on two sides of every room
It works exactly as it sounds, Alexander argues that every room should have light coming from at least two walls. This is one I'm concerned about given the PS constraints seem to directly conflict.
One idea that the commenter on a previous post introduced was an interior atrium idea. The light still comes in from the south, but rooms beside the atrium can have W/E windows facing the atrium. They would therefore have light coming from two walls, while not exposing the house to sunlight on external W/E walls.
Major downside I imagine would be cost (the atrium requires additional walls and might end up being ineffective living space). One more idea to added to the list of possibilities.
One idea that the commenter on a previous post introduced was an interior atrium idea. The light still comes in from the south, but rooms beside the atrium can have W/E windows facing the atrium. They would therefore have light coming from two walls, while not exposing the house to sunlight on external W/E walls.
Major downside I imagine would be cost (the atrium requires additional walls and might end up being ineffective living space). One more idea to added to the list of possibilities.
Basic Features
The features I'm looking for in order of importance
Must Haves:
Must Haves:
- Passive Solar
- Media Room (a room where light can be tightly controlled)
- Liberal use of daylighting
- Library
- Somewhere to store electronic equipment, preferably with some sound isolation and close to the media room.
- Workshop
Friday, February 1, 2008
Standards
Energy Start (good): http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.nh_features
LEED (getter): http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222
PassivHaus (best): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
LEED (getter): http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222
PassivHaus (best): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
Passive Solar 001
The basic idea behind passive solar design is to maximize the efficiency of the sun in heating and cooling your home. It revolves around the idea that in summer the sun arcs higher through the sky than it does in winter. Making use of this fact, combined with tightly controlling how energy enters and exits your home, is what passive solar is all about.
1. A tight building envelope is crucial to insuring you have control of energy coming in and out. With well insulated walls and ceiling the vast majority of energy exiting and entering your home is going to come through the windows. This allows you to focus your efforts on controlling energy flow across your windows rather than across the entire surface of your house.
2. South facing glass is used to control how much sunlight and energy your house picks up. Glass on the other 3 walls should be minimized as the energy movement is harder to control. With south facing glass you maximize the amount of light entering your home (the sun arcs in the southern sky for people in the northern hemisphere). The classic PS design has a lot of south-facing glass and minimal glass elsewhere.
3. The windows should in turn have some sort of structure that shields them from the top. The purpose of this structure is to allow in sunlight during the winter and to block sunlight in the summer. In winter the sun is lower in the sky and so it shines through under the shield and heats the home. In the summer the sun is higher and the shield shades the window, reducing the amount of sunlight (and thus energy) your house receives.
4. Thermal mass is the final component. It is used to store energy during the day so that it can be used at night when the sun has set. In the summer it can be used to store "coolness" at night and release the "coolness" during the day. During winter days the sun heats up the thermal mass and during winter nights the thermal mass heats the home as it cools. In summer the thermal mass can be cooled at night by opening the windows, then during the day the sun's energy will go to warming the thermal mass rather than warming the home. The net effect is that the thermal mass serves to smooth out the temperature differences between day and night.
Note that these pertain to the particular type of house I want to build. There are a lot of alternative setups out there for making use of Passive Solar design. Trombe walls and solar rooms come immediately to mind.
1. A tight building envelope is crucial to insuring you have control of energy coming in and out. With well insulated walls and ceiling the vast majority of energy exiting and entering your home is going to come through the windows. This allows you to focus your efforts on controlling energy flow across your windows rather than across the entire surface of your house.
2. South facing glass is used to control how much sunlight and energy your house picks up. Glass on the other 3 walls should be minimized as the energy movement is harder to control. With south facing glass you maximize the amount of light entering your home (the sun arcs in the southern sky for people in the northern hemisphere). The classic PS design has a lot of south-facing glass and minimal glass elsewhere.
3. The windows should in turn have some sort of structure that shields them from the top. The purpose of this structure is to allow in sunlight during the winter and to block sunlight in the summer. In winter the sun is lower in the sky and so it shines through under the shield and heats the home. In the summer the sun is higher and the shield shades the window, reducing the amount of sunlight (and thus energy) your house receives.
4. Thermal mass is the final component. It is used to store energy during the day so that it can be used at night when the sun has set. In the summer it can be used to store "coolness" at night and release the "coolness" during the day. During winter days the sun heats up the thermal mass and during winter nights the thermal mass heats the home as it cools. In summer the thermal mass can be cooled at night by opening the windows, then during the day the sun's energy will go to warming the thermal mass rather than warming the home. The net effect is that the thermal mass serves to smooth out the temperature differences between day and night.
Note that these pertain to the particular type of house I want to build. There are a lot of alternative setups out there for making use of Passive Solar design. Trombe walls and solar rooms come immediately to mind.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
On the shoulders of giants
http://www.cathy-moore.com/house/house.html
That's a link to a woman who did very much what I want to do. In fact, that's pretty much the exact approach I want to take, except my preferences tend to something more modern in design. I also want space laid out a bit differently (2 stories instead of 1.5 and a dedicated media room). The last difference is I'm looking to incorporate some of the design patterns from Alexander's book. So I'm basically going to try and follow in her footsteps, but tweak things to satisfy my own wants and desires.
If I can swing it financially I'd actually like to build something architect designed. Though I've been casually looking for a few months and its pretty hard to find architects who do small residential, have experience with passive solar, and know how to design to the opportunities/constraints of SIPs/ICFs.
That's a link to a woman who did very much what I want to do. In fact, that's pretty much the exact approach I want to take, except my preferences tend to something more modern in design. I also want space laid out a bit differently (2 stories instead of 1.5 and a dedicated media room). The last difference is I'm looking to incorporate some of the design patterns from Alexander's book. So I'm basically going to try and follow in her footsteps, but tweak things to satisfy my own wants and desires.
If I can swing it financially I'd actually like to build something architect designed. Though I've been casually looking for a few months and its pretty hard to find architects who do small residential, have experience with passive solar, and know how to design to the opportunities/constraints of SIPs/ICFs.
Readinglist
I've got to head out, so last post in this initial deluge will be a list of the decent books I've come across so far. Incidentally, if you're looking to buy these, check out abebooks.com before Amazon. I love Amazon, but you can save some serious money at abebooks if they have what you're looking for.
Of Special Note (If you can only read two from the list, read these):
Not So Big House
Frank Lloyd Wright
Construction
There are a lot of more technical books out there, especially about PS design, but the ones listed above are a good general start for some of the ideas I'm interested in.
Of Special Note (If you can only read two from the list, read these):
- A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander
- The Not So Big House - Sarah Susanka
Not So Big House
- The Not So Big House - Sarah Susanka
- Creating the Not So Big House - Sarah Susanka
- Not So Big Solutions - Sarah Susanka
Frank Lloyd Wright
- Frank Lloyd Wright; The Houses - Hess and Weintraub
- The Natural House - Frank Lloyd Wright
Construction
- A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander
- Prefabulous - Koones
- The Passive Solar House - Kachadorian
There are a lot of more technical books out there, especially about PS design, but the ones listed above are a good general start for some of the ideas I'm interested in.
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