The sun is incredibly powerful. Obviously, it is the basis of all life on our planet. The majority of people do not understand just how much energy is contained in sunshine. For example, how many times have you left an automobile in a parking area only to come back and find it scorching hot inside? This is passive solar at its finest. The sunshine penetrates through the windows and heats up the interior of the automobile. Now you understand passive solar and, ironically, one of the possible troubles with it.
When it concerns passive solar heating in a home, it can work too well. Regardless of whether you are intentionally or inadvertently pursuing passive solar, you understand how hot a home can get. Throughout the summer, it can be downright harsh. There are, however, easy actions you can take to alleviate this trouble.
The first problem relates to intrusion. Simply put, too much sun is penetrating into your home. You already know the answer from a common sense perspective, shading. In this case, you need to pull the shades over windows on the south facing side of the house. In the northern hemisp Lancaster PA Heating And Cooling , the south side of your home will always get the most sun. If you do not want to put shades up, close the door to the room in question to cut off the heat circulation. You can open it later on in the evening when things begin getting cooler, and you could use a bit of heat.
If you are intentionally designing for passive solar, there is a landscaping trick you can do to make the most of passive solar production in winter, but, restrict it in summer. In this case, we are talking about trees. Particularly, you ought to plant trees that grow a heavy leaf canopy in the summer, but lose all their leaves in the winter. Put in front of big windows, these trees will act as a natural temperature regulator for your passive solar system.