When your building a new home or planning an extensive remodel you can save $122,000 over 30 years by including the free heating and cooling energy of your climate if you select a house plan that is solar optimized for your climate. There are five basic climates in the USA: cold, hot/mixed dry, hot humid, marine, and mixed humid.
Designing for each of these climates can be challenging but by following the fundamentals of passive solar design and adapting to the differences a home which uses MUCH less energy can be built. These energy savings often exceed $100 per month over the year which will compound to $122,000 at 7% (tax free too)!
I’ve seen some horrible, and very expensive, passive solar homes built by professional that just did not have a clue. You need to know at least the basics of what to design for in your climate to make certain you save money over the next 30 years. Luckily the basics are so simple I’m astounded when I see the errors building professionals make every day – and so will you.
What climate do you live in?
* If your summer does not require A/C for more than 2-3 weeks your in the Cold Climate Zone.
* If you don’t need heating for more than 2-3 weeks & your grass stays green your in the Hot Humid Climate Zone.
* If you don’t need heating for more than 2-3 weeks & you can’t grow grass your in the Hot/Mixed Dry Climate Zone.
* If you live on the west coast and it’s foggy and cool much of the year your in the Marine Climate Zone.
* Lastly if you live south of the Mason-Dixon Line and it gets cold in the winter your in the Mixed Humid Climate Zone.
If none of these descriptions seem to fit you can look at the US Government map of residential climate zones.
Now that you know which climate you are building your new home in you need to know just TWO design fundamentals: Insolation and Thermal Mass. Well they really are simple once you break them down “Insolation” is just where/how the sun shines inside of your home and “Thermal Mass” is how much heavy massive stuff is inside of your home. In order to optimize your house plans for solar heating/cooling you simply need to make certain that there is sunshine inside of your home when you want heat and that sunshine is excluded from you home when you don’t want it.
Selecting where exactly the windows and overhangs need to go on your future home, or addition, is fairly complicated but you designer should be able to explain why the majority of the windows are on the south side of your home and how the overhangs are designed to let in the low winter sun. Your designer should also be able to explain how they calculated the thermal mass built into your home to prevent you house overheating in the summer & winter by properly matching the glass area to thermal mass ratio for your climate.
Climate specific building designs are best for each region and when you meet with your designer or purchase pre-drawn plans it is vital to ask what climate these were designed for. DO NOT accept the idea that plans for one region will work in another – they won’t! You will end up with a sub-optimal design that save you only a fraction of the energy ($) you could’ve saved.
Red Flags to look for:
* Angled glass looks quite science-fiction on a home but in almost ALL cases it results in an overheated house that needs to be vented during the day, even in the winter, and leaky windows.I’d suggest avoiding all house designs with angles glass – period.
* Unshaded east and west facing glass (except in COLD climates) is another bad idea. Some glass on these sides of the home is acceptable if it is shaded with deep porches, trees, etc. In climates that require A/C for portions of the year the east/west windows let in lots of solarheat when you least want it
* Too much glass is a BAD idea as well. Typically less than 20% of the total wall area of the home should be glazed, and only if there is sufficient thermal mass. For Hot climates (both humid and dry) even less glass is preferred and ALL of it needs to be shaded throughout fall/winter/spring.
If you follow this advice and question you designer or plans supplier closely on these issues you are likely to save 40% or more on your home heating and cooling – perhaps you will have $122,000 more in your pocket (tax free) when your done!