Passive Solar Design for New Mexico

Class V

Review of previous classes

• Diurnal Heat Capacity
• Embodied energy of materials:
  • Concrete: ~3 kwh/lbm. 50 ft x 20 ft concrete house, 12" thick, 8 ft high walls and 12 " slab. Volume of concrete would be equal to the surface area (floor and walls) = 1000 + 140 x 8 = 2120 ft³.  At 150 lbm/ft³, this is 318,000 lbm, or 954,000 kwh. This is equal to 3255 MMBtu: 100 years worth of energy!
  • Typical buildings: ~1 GJ/ft², Assume 1000 ft²; 1000 GJ emodied energy. This is about 948 MMBtu. About thirty years worth of heating energy!
• Low Energy Materials: Close to the Earth
• High Energy Materials: Need large amounts of processing, transport.
• Evaluating Building performance
• Oversizing Philosophy

Types of passive solar buildings:

• Direct Gain
• Attached Greenhouses
• Indirect Gain
  • Trombe walls
  • Water walls
  • Convective walls
  • Roof Ponds