Are certain climates better suited to different types of solar homes? Different climates need different kinds of solar and passive solar energy. Climate does make a difference in the kind of design that...
Climate does make a difference in the kind of design that will be best suited for a particular solar home. In cold climates, the goal will be to increase the amount of heat in the house, while in hot climates the goal will be the opposite. Solar houses in climates that are hot in the summer and cold in the winter have to be able to both capture and repel the sun's heat. In addition, the angle of the sun is different in different latitudes and in different seasons, and the design of a solar house has to take that into consideration.
The U.S. Department of Energy, on its Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) website, says, "In cold climates, south-facing windows designed to let the sun's heat in while insulating against the cold are ideal. In hot and moderate climates, the strategy is to admit light while rejecting heat."
Frederick Bernard, the owner of Acorn Builders, a custom home designer, builder, and remodeler, says, "'Passive solar' is a form of heating. It wouldn't necessarily be used in the south because you'd be heating a house that's already hot. The further north you go, the further the sun is angled to the south in the wintertime, so you get more lighting in your windows in the winter, but you also don't have the sun directly overhead in the summertime like we do down here in the southern states. So it all has to do with the orientation of the movement of the sun from morning to evening and what your latitude is from the equator. So it's related directly to the angle of the sun."
In climates with cold winters and hot summers, good design enables a solar house to be comfortable year round. The EERE website says, "Proper building orientation, so the longest walls run from east to west, allows solar heat to enter the home in winter, while allowing in as little sun as possible during summer. Shading and overhangs also reduce excessive summer heat, while still permitting winter sun."
Bernard says, "In El Paso, it gets colder in the winter than it does in other parts of the southwest, and it does snow there. The free heating is actually a good thing. With adequate overhangs in the windows in the summertime, the sun doesn't shine in at all. So you get free heat energy in the wintertime, but not in the summertime when you don't need it."
The California Energy Commission's Consumer Energy Center website says that "overhangs are one of the best (and least costly) shade design elements to include in your home. In the summer, when the sun is high in the sky, the overhangs should shade the room completely. In the winter, when the sun is low, the overhangs should allow the full sun to enter, warming the air, as well as the floor, wall and other features." There are also other effective ways of shading a house. "Besides overhangs, shading can be provided by several other means: cover panels over skylights, insulated drapes or shutters, exterior shades, awnings and landscaping."
