|
|
re: plans for a passive solar, energy efficient two-story duplex?
13 jul 2003
larencorie wrote:
>...for the real world, it is necessary to juggle thousands of factors, most
>of which are far more important than making the solar design "easy"...
depends on what we mean by "solar design" and "easy." a typical passive
solar house might be 30% solar-heated. psic says an excellent one in the
northeast might be 40% solar heated, following all of their mass and glass
guidelines religiously. these are fake solar houses, since they are mostly
heated by something else, eg gas or oil or wood or electricity. calling them
solar houses is fraudulent, and it disguises the difficulty of designing
a real one. homeowners who live in them sadly twist their perceptions into
thinking they are more than 40% solar heated. ("we only use the woodstove
for about an hour a day.")
some people say a solar house is "one with no other form of heat."
removing the furnace makes fraud more difficult...
>few folks want to live in a structure which has its main purpose to be
>a heating machine. that's just bad architecture, and would be a cop out.
>it's also too easy...
it seems to me that making a house more than 90% solar-heated is very
difficult, even on paper, even it that is the only goal. they are the
america's cup boats, with fewer rules. there are very few houses like
that in the northeast. those of norman saunders come close. would that
a few more people make this a serious goal.
>with talent any style can be achieved, and still have a good passive
>solar house.
a fake one. "look at all that glass. it's a solar house."
>now, what climate is this duplex intended for?
good question, but i suspect the op is a dilettante.
>passive solar doesn't just heat. it brings you in touch with the climate,
>the seasons, and the light of the day. it molds them into a meaningful
>sensory experience. done properly, it is art that far exceeds the technology.
right. forget the energy part. consider the feng shui and soothing colors...
my message to architects and engineers is: look at the whole picture.
in the trade press recently, there was an article hailing a custom,
9,000-square-foot, architect-designed house as the latest in
environmentally responsible design. its principal claim to fame
seemed to be the use of natural, nontoxic finishes on the woodwork.
in the rush to commercialize "green architecture," no one noticed
that this house consumes more energy than a small new england town.
if your goal is trying to build an environmentally responsible building,
you're missing the whole point if you get all lathered up over a
nonvolatile natural finish on the handrails, while you're connected
to a plutonium generator down the road. it's the same "out of site,
out of mind" again, with a new face on it. "i'm doing all i can for
the environment, my architect specified beeswax on my new woodwork--
someone else will just have to figure out what we're going to do
with all this radioactive waste"... and acid rain and oil spills and
global warming and ozone depletion and unhealthy air quality and...
you hear a lot about sustainability these days. i've been at this
since 1973, long enough to be certain that, without addressing the
energy issues, you're in the weeds. all the fuss over "my milk-based
paints transported in from europe" is just a myopic distraction from
the issues that really matter on a global scale. true, natural-based
finishes are desirable, but they fall far short of the answer.
establishing an energy infrastructure based on renewable resources
is a necessary and fundamental precondition to establishing a
sustainable society or to achieving sustainability at any scale.
if you are not addressing the energy issues, don't even pretend
that your buildling is environmentally responsible.
architect steven strong in
the new independent home by michael potts, chelsea green, 1999
>there is way more to architecture than heating, especially when
>the goal is creating a "home" environment....
well sure. we need natural fibers, and drama.
>btw.......i'm really into tiny houses.
superinsulation.
nick
|
|
