Subject: Re: Info wanted: Passive Solar

From: [email-masked] (Robert Sanders)
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 1995 23:53:56

Here are some resources to help with the design of passive solar homes...

  "the Earthbuilders' Encyclopedia" by Joe Tibbets for the Southwest 
Solaradobe Schools, @1989.  ISBN 0-9621885-0-6.

  Southwest Solaradobe School
  Sabinal Research Station
  P.O. Box 153
  Bosque, New Mexico 87006

  Great book!  Covers all aspects (for less than US$20.00) of adobe and rammed 
earth homes.  In paticular, it has a great section on figuring window areas 
for passive solaradobes for various locations.  Calculating the necessary 
solar overhang so you're warm in the winter and don't roast in the summer or 
so that your cool in the summer (for low desert areas).  Also sections on 
footings, Boveda (earthen vault), earthen roofs, wiring, etc.

  An example taken from the "Embodied Energy" listing --- "...the energy 
consumed into producing and transporting building materials before they go 
into a structure...."

     "Adobe block 10x4x14" ...........................2,500 B.T.U.
      Common Red Brick ................................13,570 B.T.U.
      Paving Brick ...........................................24,570 B.T.U.
      Concrete Block 8x8x16" .........................29,018 B.T.U.
      94 lb. sack of Portland Cement .............381,624 B.T.U.
      100 lb. sack of hydrated lime ...............440,619 B.T.U."

  "Climatic Building Design  ---- Energy Efficient Building Principles and 
Practice", by Donald Watson and Kenneth Labs. @1988, McGraw-Hill Inc.  ISBN 
0-07-068488-X.  Approx. US$32.00

  This work covers the math, climate, heating and cooling requirements for a 
building.  It also covers the shapes and the effects of the climates on those 
shapes.  An example is that as one goes north the more efficient building 
become square.  As one goes south, the buildings become long and narrow.

  Included are climatic tables for major cities around the U.S. and there is 
an offer for more detailed data and modeling (for additional money) from 
Kenneth Labs.

  "The Hydroponic Hot House ---  Low-Cost, High Yield Greenhouse Gardening"  
by James B. DeKorne.  @1992, approx. US$17.00.  ISBN 1-55950-079-4.

  Loompanics Unlimited
  P.O. Box 1197
  Port Townsend, WA 98368  (check the zip, it may not be right)

  The only real book with actual experience in it.  DeKorne has been doing 
this since the 1970s and tells you what went wrong, what doesn't work and why, 
and what is actually working in his greenhouse (in northen New Mexico).

  If you're contemplating an attached solar greenhouse, this book is a must.

  Finally, the other true resource is the recently published "Whole Earth 
Millenium Catalog" for around US$30.00.  I consider this a must have for 
access to the rest of the tools.  Good mini-reviews of other books and tools 
that work.  Doesn't cover the entire spectrum, but covers enough, including a 
full page describing the Rocky Mountain Institute.

  Bob