PASSIVE SOLAR
Going Green With Passive Solar
Passive Solar is an easy and affordable way to lower your energy bills and is a great step to take to help make your home more eco-friendly. Ideas surrounding passive solar technology have been around for a long time. In fact, you might already be using passive solar concepts in your home without realizing it! The goal of passive solar is to use the sun to your advantage by being solar-smart; the main idea is to use the sun’s light and heat for additional warmth in the winter months and to limit the sun’s heat during the summer months.
Passive solar works by using a variety of techniques and tricks to make the sun’s solar power work to benefit you.
Read below to find out which tricks you can use to employ passive solar techniques in your home.
MAKE THE MOST OF SHADE: Plant Native Deciduous Trees
One of the simplest ways to effectively implement passive solar technology on your property is to plant large deciduous trees near your home. In the summer, a dense, leafy deciduous tree will shield your home from the hot summer sun and provide a welcome respite from the sun’s rays. Your AC usage will be lower and your energy bills will decrease. In the winter, the tree will lose its leaves, allowing the low-angle winter sun to help heat your home.
Blocking the sun’s heat before it hits your windows is far more effective than cooling your house after the fact. Planting a tree on the west-facing side of your home will be particularly effective, as it will block the hottest sun of the day in the mid-late afternoon.
In addition to this, trees add a lot of value to your property, they decrease unwanted noise, they absorb harmful carbon dioxide gases, and they are a natural windbreaker against harsh winds.
It will be up to you to determine the right size and height of tree best suited to your yard. Slower-growing trees will work better in smaller yards. Like native plants, native trees will grow easier in your climate because they have naturally adapted to the environment, thus requiring no special care or extra watering. Check with your local nurseries to find a variety that will thrive in your location.
DROUGHT TOLERANT GARDENING
If you decide to use the benefits of large trees as a means of using passive solar techniques, consider planting a native, drought-tolerant garden to match. Choose plants, shrubs, groundcover and flowers that thrive in the shade. Shade gardening can be incredibly low maintenance and can produce amazing results.
Check out Distinct Build’s article on Xeriscaping.
TUBULAR SKYLIGHTS – A Great Source of Natural Lighting
A more recent innovation that is quickly rising in popularity is ODL Tubular Skylights; they are another great way to let the daylight in and keep the heat out. They are also called "sun tunnels" and are a great way to flood the interior of your home with natural light.
HERE'S HOW THEY WORK: they collect sunlight in tubing connected to the exterior of the home and transfer it inside. All natural light without the heat from the sun’s rays! The trick is in the highly reflective tubing which acts as a portal for the light, then the light is dispersed evenly in the interior through a diffuser on the other end.
One of the biggest advantages is that you are able to transport natural light anywhere in your home, even to the basement. It is a great way to get natural light to rooms without windows or with very little natural lighting. On top of that, ODL tubular skylights are designed to absorb 99% of UV rays, which means your flooring, rugs, furniture, fabrics, and artwork are protected from fading.
ENERGY EFFICIENT SKYLIGHTS
Many homeowners love how skylights allow a flood of natural light into their home. They also save energy by reducing your need for electric lighting and by helping warm up a room in winter. Installing energy-efficient skylights and adding a solar shade is a great way to bring natural light into your home.
SOLAR WINDOW SHADES
One of the more inexpensive options when thinking about passive solar is window coverings. They make the most of the sun’s energy without allowing it to overheat your home. In the hot summer sun, older windows can allow the heat to penetrate and make your home really hot, really fast. Also, even the most energy-efficient windows can lose a lot of heat in the winter. Buffering your doors and windows is a smart way to take advantage of passive solar energy.
Many home building stores offer a wide variety of solar blinds in many styles, colours, and materials. For rooms with high sun exposure, solar blinds can block up to 95% of the solar heat by filtering and diffusing sunlight; they also block UV rays!
ENERGY STAR – Look for Windows and Doors with their Stamp of Approval
If you’re looking to avoid overusing the AC in the summer, energy-efficient windows and patio doors go far in making the most of solar energy. Look for ENERGY STAR rated products that have double and triple glazing, low-emissivity coatings and insulating argon gas – their resistance to heat transfer is 20% – 30% higher than older windows.
Ideally, a passive solar house in Canada would have all its windows on the south-facing side of the property and less on the heat-losing north side. Because we can’t physically rotate our houses for optimal passive solar orientation, ENERGY STAR windows and doors can help correct the heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.
SOLAR WINDOW FILMS
Another simple, inexpensive way to make the most of the sun’s energy is with solar film. Solar film makes the most of solar energy and dramatically improves a window’s insulating properties. By installing film onto your windows, you will be able to filter the heat out of your home in the summer and keep the heat in during the winter months.
Developed to block up to 70% of solar energy, the thin, transparent film is easy to apply; you simply spray your window with soapy water, position it and squeegee out the remaining water. Solar film comes in different sizes, and can be trimmed or combined to fit any window.
AWNINGS – Keep the sun at bay
One of the older methods of passive solar still works today; one great way to beat the sun is by installing a well-placed awning. Awnings help to shade the sun in the summer when the heat of the day is beating down on your house, while the lower-angled winter sun will still have access in the colder months.
While awnings might be considered old-fashioned or outdated, many modern options are available. Modern architects are designing beautiful awnings out of wood planks, tying the design in with the rest of the house. They add visual interest to the exterior and are a permanent way to increase the use of passive solar technology in your home.