Passive Solar Roof

Passive solar cooled house in tropical areas.

Passive solar roof.

This concept is based on the principle that the sun s light streaming into your home s windows generates heat. A well designed passive solar home first reduces heating and cooling loads through energy efficiency strategies and then meets those reduced loads in whole or part with solar energy. Passive solar design takes advantage of a building s site climate and materials to minimize energy use. A roof pond passive solar system sometimes called a solar roof uses water stored on the roof to temper hot and cold internal temperatures usually in desert environments.

In addition the heat produced by the sun causes air movement that can be predictable in designed spaces. Passive solar homes can be any color just like normal homes but they lose a major advantage if they aren t painted to suit the climate. Light colored homes reflect the sun s light reducing the amount of heat retained in the walls and therefore lowering summer cooling loads. Passive solar design begins with the simple idea that you can build a house that uses natural heating cooling ventilation and daylighting these homes require much less fossil fuel energy to heat.

A solar pv system offset and additional 22 bringing the net energy use to near zero. These basic responses to solar heat lead to design. Let s start with passive solar roof design. The reports provide quite a bit of detail on the saving achieved by each energy efficient design feature.

Therefore you want to allow the sun s light to shine on windows or even exterior walls only when it is cold outside and you want to block the sun s rays when it is hot outside. When sunlight strikes a building the building materials can reflect transmit or absorb the solar radiation. It typically is constructed of containers holding 6 to 12 in 150 to 300 mm of water on a flat roof.