Passive Solar Roof Design

Natural convection and ventilation.

Passive solar roof design.

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 begins with the simple idea that you can build a house that uses natural heating cooling ventilation and daylighting. When sunlight strikes a building the building materials can reflect transmit or absorb the solar radiation. 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.

Light colored homes reflect the sun s light reducing the amount of heat retained in the walls and therefore lowering summer cooling loads. In addition the heat produced by the sun causes air movement that can be predictable in designed spaces. These homes require much less fossil fuel energy to heat. 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.

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