Passive Solar Heating System

Passive solar design takes advantage of a building s site climate and materials to minimize energy use.

Passive solar heating system.

These basic responses to solar heat lead to design. Passive solar design refers to the use of the sun s energy for the heating and cooling of living spaces by exposure to the sun. In passive solar building design windows walls and floors are made to collect store reflect and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. In addition the heat produced by the sun causes air movement that can be predictable in designed spaces.

This is called passive solar design because unlike active solar heating systems it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices. Typically the aperture s should face within 30 of true south and should not be shaded by other buildings or trees from 9 a m. Passive solar heating is using the sun s rays to heat a living space by exposing the area to sunlight. Because of the small heating loads of modern homes it is very important to avoid oversizing south facing.

Each day during the heating season. 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. The key to designing a passive solar building is. In a passive solar heating system the aperture collector is a large glass window area through which sunlight enters the building.

An example of a passive system for space heating is a sunspace or solar greenhouse. Passive systems do not use mechanical devices such as fans blowers or pumps to distribute solar heat from a collector.