Sun-Wise

Design:

Avoiding
Passive Solar Design Blunders
Dan Chiras, (Adapted from The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling) ©2005 Dan Chiras

B
uilding or buying a home is a long-term financial north-facing windows, beefed up the attic insulation, and
commitment. Good passive solar design offers sealed air leaks. Next, I attached a small sunspace on the
big payoffs in thermal comfort, energy efficiency, home’s south side, my first attempt at passive solar heating.
and conservation, with miniscule monetary commitment. I based the design not on science and solar engineering, but
Poor design has the opposite effect—it can obligate a on pure speculation.
homeowner to unnecessarily high energy bills and living in Not surprisingly, the sunspace failed miserably. The
an uncomfortable house. The same holds for environmental reason? It was far too modest to meet my home’s heating
performance. Over a structure’s lifetime, well-designed requirements. It did provide some warm air, but not
buildings have less impact on the environment, while poor enough to noticeably affect the home’s temperature.
design results in a lifetime of high energy use and resource Had I known more, I would have constructed a space
consumption. commensurate to the home’s square footage and installed
Although solar designs have improved, an awareness a system to move air out of the sunspace that was more
of the lessons learned from the past is vital to the future sophisticated than a portable fan.
of passive solar heating and cooling. By understanding Many other people experimented with passive solar
the common problems, builders, architects, and designers heating in the 1970s and 1980s. Venturing boldly into the
can work diligently to avoid them—either in building new field, many of us designed intuitively. What could be
homes or when retrofitting existing ones. so difficult about passive solar design? You concentrate
windows on the south side of a house, provide overhangs
Lessons Learned—The Hard Way for summer shade, insulate well, and then sit back and bask
In the late 1970s, I purchased my first home, an attractive in the benefits of your labor. Trouble is, good passive solar
bungalow built in 1925. It wasn’t a passive solar structure, heating design requires more than intuition—it requires
but it had good southern exposure. Soon after moving in, I understanding the concepts of orienting a home properly,
started to work on the house. I purchased solar collectors to balancing glazing and thermal mass, and allowing for good
heat domestic hot water. I removed some rather large, leaky insulation and ventilation.

38 home power 105 / february & march 2005

 solar blunders

Blunder #1,
Improper Orientation
A few years ago, a friend of mine called to ask if I’d
assess a passive solar home she was considering
buying. As we drove up to the house under
question, my first impression was quite favorable.
The house was on a nice, clear lot—no trees or hills
obstructed the low-angled winter sun—and was
built with a large thermal storage wall (also known
as a Trombe wall). However, on the morning of that
sunny September day, the owner revealed that he
had started a fire in the woodstove to raise room
temperature from a chilly 60°F (16°C). I was baffled.
My own passive solar home was performing quite
well, despite the frosty nights. Standing alongside
the house, my puzzlement cleared when I realized
that the thermal storage wall was on the west side
of the house. The south side was an ordinary
wood-frame wall without a single window for solar
gain! Had the architect’s compass been off?

The first and most important element in passive

solar design is proper orientation. Ideally, a passive
solar home should be oriented toward true south, Bob was sure glad that
exposing the greatest surface area and window
space to the low-angled winter sun. The long axis of
he had a fireplace,
the home should run east and west. (Note that true because his fancy solar home
south is not the same as magnetic south. In many
regions of the country, magnetic north and south
never seemed to perform
deviate significantly from true north and south.) quite as he had hoped.

Blunder #2, Excess Shading

Ensuring that a home’s south face can access sunlight
is as critical as correct orientation. One of the most
common problems is that people build their homes,
and then plant trees on the south side. Some even
plant evergreens. When they’re small, the trees don’t
contribute much shade, but as they mature, they begin
to reduce solar gain significantly.

Deciduous trees along a home’s south side are less

problematic than evergreens, because most lose
their leaves in the fall and remain leafless throughout
the wintertime. Some trees, like oaks, are not so
cooperative—they tend to retain their leaves, shading
throughout the fall and winter. But even leafless trees
can block solar access. Limbs, branches, and tree trunks
can produce wintertime shading levels between 25 and
50 percent. For maximum solar gain, keep the southern South-facing windows collect no heat
exposure tree-free. if the sunlight can’t get to them.

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solar blunders

Blunder #3, Overglazing

A local contractor who had grand ideas of helping with solar glazing greater than 7 percent, solar gain
reduce home energy use built my second home. I was falls within the range of 25 to 90 percent. That is,
especially excited about this house because it employed homeowners can satisfy 25 to 90 percent of their annual
three different passive solar design features: direct heat requirement from the sun. Although 100 percent
gain, where south-facing glass admits the low-angled solar heating is possible, it is difficult to achieve. In all
winter sun into a home’s interior; an attached sunspace; but the most favorable climates, some form of backup
and a thermal storage wall. The builder had oriented heat is required.
it properly, insulated well, and provided adequate
To prevent overheating in the winter, passive solar
mass, or so we thought. Additionally, the house had
homes require thermal mass inside the structure. Mass
great solar exposure. The south-facing windows were
absorbs and releases heat into rooms at night, helping
exposed to the sun from 10 AM to 3 PM each day.
to minimize temperature swings. In passive solar homes
As well-thought-out as this home was, though, we in which south-facing glass is less than 7 percent of the
soon discovered that the house had some fatal flaws. total square footage, no additional thermal mass is
The builder had installed five large skylights, four of required. Incidental mass—mass in the structure, such
which were on the south-facing roof, and two large as drywall, framing, and furniture—is usually sufficient.
sliding glass doors in the west wall. In the summer, the If solar glazing exceeds 7 percent, additional thermal
skylights and west-facing sliders admitted an enormous mass is required.
amount of sunlight and heat, baking the house almost
A proper glass-to-mass ratio, for example, protects
all day long.
against unbearably hot room temperatures. High
In the winter, excess sunlight entering the house through performance windows that have a high solar heat gain
skylights and south-facing glass and inadequate, poorly coefficient (greater than 0.5) reduce unwanted heat
situated mass caused temperatures to rise into the mid- gain, heat loss, and leakage. For most climates, double-
80s (29°C). I often walked around in shorts and a T-shirt or triple-pane, argon-gas-filled window assemblies
during the dead of winter, and still felt as if I was about with warm edges (thermal spacers that reduce heat
to spontaneously combust. The air inside the house conduction through the frame) are advised.
was unbearably hot and dry.

The builder’s overglazing zeal had more impacts on

the house—the sliding glass doors were inexpensive Too much glass can cause huge temperature swings.
Homes tend to overheat during the day, even in
models that leaked excessively during the winter, the winter, and get too cold at night, because windows
so at night they produced a bone-chilling draft. My lose considerable amounts of heat.
wife and I installed a layer of Plexiglas magnetically
attached to the door trim and a Warm Window
insulated curtain to reduce this problem—at a cost
of about US$400 for each slider. The skylights also
permitted a lot of heat to escape at night. A layer of
Plexiglas, mounted similarly on the interior, cut heat
loss by about half.

As a general rule, the area of south-facing glass in

passive solar homes should fall within 7 to 12 percent
of the home’s square footage. The more heat you need,
the more south-facing glass. For optimal, year-round
performance, designers and builders should also pay
close attention to windows on the north, east, and west
sides of homes. East- and north-facing glass should
not exceed 4 percent of the total square footage. West-
facing glass should not exceed 2 percent of the total
square footage.

In a solar home in which solar glazing falls under the

7 percent mark, sunlight can satisfy 10 to 25 percent
of a home’s annual heat requirement. In solar homes

40 home power 105 / february & march 2005

 solar blunders

Blunder #4, Inadequate Overhangs

Many early passive solar homes and some more recent lower windows during the summer months, greatly
structures feature huge, two-story glass walls. I’ve visited increasing the cooling load.
three breathtaking examples lately. But after extolling
Nighttime heat loss can also be significant with this
the virtues of their homes, the owners all confided that
design. And huge expanses of glass are rather difficult
they wouldn’t build a home this way again. Why? One
to cover with window shades. Even if you can install
of the problems is that two-story, south-facing glass
shades, the second-story ones are often difficult to access
walls can lead to overheating in the winter.
and operate. As a result, many homeowners leave their
Overheating also occurs in these homes during the glass walls unprotected in the winter, and suffer the
swing seasons—the late spring and early fall—because consequences—discomfort and high heating bills.
of a lack of sufficient exterior overhangs. In the designs
I’ve studied, the upper levels of glass are frequently The overhangs in this house provide adequate shading for
protected by an overhang, but the lower levels are not. the upstairs, but the ground floor bakes in the summer sun.
The result is that too much sunlight enters from the
intermediate-angled sun.

In a single-story home with sufficient overhangs,

sunlight penetration is controlled quite naturally. In
the fall, as the sun angle decreases, sunlight begins to
penetrate south-facing glass, but just deep enough to
provide the small amount of heat generally required for
comfort. In a two-story glass wall, the unshaded lower-
tier glazing lets in more sunlight than is needed. Unless
the lower story has been protected with an overhang
or sufficient mass has been provided to absorb the
excess heat, overheating is practically guaranteed. In
a two-story glass wall, sunlight can even enter the

Blunder #5, Angled Glass

The rationale for sloped glass is that it permits maximum during the swing seasons and the summer, increasing
sunlight penetration during the winter months. With cooling loads. Angled glass is not easy to shade—it
the glass set perpendicular to incident sunlight on the is not conducive to overhangs and it is difficult to fit
shortest day of the year, the house achieves maximum with internal shades. One of the only options you’ll
solar gain. Reflection of light rays, which occurs in have is external shades, which are inconvenient and
vertical glass, is minimized. unappealing aesthetically.

Angled glass is one of those design ideas proffered by

Sloped glazing is hard to shade, often allowing too much
those seeking 100 percent or near 100 percent passive
heat gain in some seasons.
solar heating—and it is also valuable when trying to
grow year-round in planters located along the south
side of a house. If you don’t provide angled glass for
plants, you’ll need skylights. Plants don’t grow well
behind vertical glass, especially in the summer when
the sun cuts a steep arc in the sky.

Although angled glass has its benefits, the problems it

creates are significant. Any time a window assembly
is off-vertical, it is likely to eventually leak, especially
if it is exposed to extreme temperature swings.
Unshaded, tilted glass permits unwanted solar gain

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solar blunders
To beat the
stratification Blunder #6,
of heat in his Underinsulation
great room, Insulation and reducing air leakage are the other
Don...well, keystones of successful passive solar design and
passive cooling. Modern solar architects and
poor Don. builders pay close attention to them, and achieve
levels that greatly reduce the heating and cooling
loads of homes and other buildings.

Although windows perform admirably as solar

collectors, the best-built, airtight, energy-efficient
windows still permit massive amounts of heat to
escape at night or on cold, cloudy days. In the winter,
the period of solar gain is far shorter than the period
of heat loss. In all homes, especially passive solar
structures, insulated shades, and internal shutters
are all well worth the investment. They insulate cold
window surfaces that suck heat from a house, and
may even diminish air infiltration around windows.

Insulate the ceilings, walls, floors, and foundation

well, paying special attention to foundations and
concrete floors that collect and store thermal
mass—you won’t want to lose this heat to the
earth. Although many municipalities and counties
have upgraded their insulation standards, most are
still woefully inadequate. I recommend insulation
levels 30 percent greater than the International
Code Council’s Model Energy Code.

Blunder #7, Inadequate Thermal Mass

In my second home, the thermal storage wall seemed needed.) My thermal storage wall worked perfectly
to be the only feature the builder got right. But, as I from that day on.
soon found out, it too had some problems. Like many
Thermal mass is vital to the success of a passive solar
early Trombe wall designs, this one had been built
home. It prevents overheating and reduces temperature
with vents to move hot air from the space between
swings at night by radiating stored heat into the room
the glass and the mass wall to the living space. In a
when the interior air temperature falls below the surface
vented thermal storage wall, hot air moves upward
temperature of the mass. Any material that has the
by convection, creating a thermosiphon effect, and
capacity to store heat can serve as thermal mass.
ensures some daytime heating from a structure that
otherwise provides mostly nighttime heat. In most passive solar homes, thermal mass consists of
masonry building materials such as poured concrete
Unfortunately, we found that the Trombe wall had
and concrete block walls, or earthen materials such as
the opposite effect. After the sun stopped heating
adobe floors and walls or rammed earth walls. Even
the thermal storage wall, a reverse thermosiphon
plaster over a straw bale wall can serve as thermal
was established, pulling warm air from the room.
mass. For effective thermal storage, the mass needs
We solved this problem by permanently inserting
to be about 3 inches (7.6 cm) thick. Besides providing
foam blocks into the openings to block the flow of
enough thermal mass, successful passive solar
air. (Operable louvres were another possible solution,
design means situating the mass properly to absorb
but daytime heating was not something this house
and collect solar radiation.

42 home power 105 / february & march 2005

 solar blunders

Blunder #8, What About

Poor Ventilation Attached Sunspaces?
A couple of years after we moved into our second Attached sunspaces, while aesthetically pleasing,
house, during the house’s fifth year of existence, often prove to be a waste of space, and generally
the shingles on the roof began to buckle. When I add little, if any, usable living space to a home. In
examined the problem, I found that the roof decking the winter during the day, they’re often drenched
and insulation were soaking wet. The builder had with sunlight and unusable, unless shaded. At night,
failed to install a vapor barrier and a roof venting sunspaces tend to be very cold and uncomfortable.
system. As a result, water vapor from the home’s
If they’re designed with a considerable amount
interior had been migrating through the ceiling and
of roof glass, they’ll end up baking in the sun and
insulation, condensing on the decking, and then
will require shading. It’s also often difficult to
dripping onto the insulation, dramatically reducing
transfer heat from a sunspace into a home during
its effectiveness.
the winter. In my experience, direct gain systems
To solve the problem, I installed soffit vents and a and thermal storage walls work better for heating
ridge vent, and replaced all of the wet insulation. interior space. They also provide much more
Vents allow air to circulate over the insulation, useful floor space than an attached sunspace.
drawing off moisture that migrates through the
ceiling. The retrofit cost several thousand dollars.

The lesson here is that controlling indoor moisture

levels is crucial. Exhausting moist air at the sources
with dryer vents, and kitchen and bathroom
exhaust fans, and ventilating roof cavities can stop
moisture problems at their source. Installing vapor
barriers on the warm side of the insulation (interior
side in heating-dominated climates) in walls and
ceilings also will help reduce moisture problems.
Applying latex paint to drywall also helps to reduce
its permeability to vapor. The combination of the
two can be quite effective.

Blunder #9, High Ceilings

Aesthetically speaking, I have to admit that part of my ceilinged, passive solar homes are a poor design. You
second home’s appeal was its dramatic 20-foot (6 m) vaulted can install large, powerful fans, but they can be noisy
ceilings. But from a passive solar design performance and are often unable to move the volume of air that is
standpoint, they were a nightmare. The vaulted ceilings needed to ensure comfort. They’ll also require additional
permitted hot air to rise and dissipate through the skylights energy to operate, negating the chief goal of passive
and the roof. At night, the lovely passive solar house that solar design—to use as little energy as possible.
cooked us during the day, chilled us.
High ceilings also mean there’s a greater volume of
Although the builder had anticipated the problem of air to heat in the house, and the more volume, the
rising hot air and had installed two fans in wall plenums greater the heating load. The greater the temperature
(metal ducts leading from the ceiling to the lower level) to differences between the air at ceiling level and the
distribute heat to the house’s lower level, the fans were outside air, the greater the heat loss through the ceiling.
undersized and ineffective. I replaced them with larger In this house, ironically, the high ceilings probably
models, but they barely made a dent in the problem. A made the structure a bit more livable during winter
ceiling fan we installed didn’t help much either. days. Without them, the living room and dining room
would have surely been much hotter. But there are
When designing a passive solar home, never lose track
other ways of ensuring comfortable temperature that
of the fact that hot air rises, and that moving hot air
don’t spawn secondary problems.
downward is extremely difficult. In most climates, high-

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solar blunders
Future Passive Solar Design
Blunder #10, Despite past problems, passive solar heating is moving
forward on much more solid footing. Although there is more
Sun Drenching to be learned, the new generation of informational resources
delivers considerably more science and engineering to
In many early passive solar homes, living spaces the task. New resources are available to assist you in the
were often drenched in sunlight during much of the design of energy-efficient, passively conditioned homes.
heating season. Although these designs provided Publications such as Home Power and Solar Today, and
plenty of heat, rooms were so brightly illuminated computer software like Energy-10 are just a few of the
that they often became unusable during the dozens of resources aimed at helping architects and builders
daylight hours. Excess sunlight can produce glare develop cost-effective, energy-efficient, low-impact passive
that can make TV or computer monitor viewing solar buildings.
difficult, uncomfortable, or even impossible.
Sunlight can bleach carpets and furniture, too. Access
Many a disappointed homeowner has turned to Dan Chiras, Sustainable Systems Design, 9124
heavy window shades to block the sun, a measure Armadillo Trail, Evergreen, CO 80439 • 303-674-9688 •
that dramatically cuts down on solar gain. danchiras@[Link] • [Link]
Fortunately, some simple design strategies can
The Solar House Daniel Chiras, 2002, Paperback, 288
ensure solar gain while producing sun-sheltered
pages, ISBN 1-931498-16-4, US$29.95 from Chelsea Green
spaces. Planters, hallways, partition walls,
Publishing, PO Box 428, White River Junction, VT 05001 •
entryways, and other design features may all be
800-639-4099 or 802-295-6300 • Fax: 802-295-6444 •
used to create sun-free zones. Sunlight can also
info@[Link] • [Link]
be directed into interior stairs where a brightly lit
interior meets little, if any, objection. Trombe walls
Sustainable Buildings Industries Council, 1331 H St. NW,
are extremely effective in reducing sun drenching.
Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 • 202-628-7400 •
Clerestory windows can be used to deliver sunlight
Fax: 202-393-5043 • sbic@[Link] •
to back walls of a room.
[Link] • Energy-10 software

44 home power 105 / february & march 2005