February 2010 This past weekend I had a great time attending a social get together here in the Upper Delaware Valley where I live. The party was attended by the usual mix of friends: artists, physicians, teachers, carpenters, entrepreneurs, Ivy League and high school grads all together for a good time. This rural area - two hours form New York City and three hours from Philadelphia - has long attracted independent people who lead life on their own terms.
One of the more interesting conversations I had at the party was with a friend who shares my passion about all things passive solar. He is an artist and an investor who charged himself with the task of designing and building a zero net home. A bold and clever innovator who does not shy away from challenges, he bought some land, designed a passive solar house and built it. I had the pleasure of being invited to an Open House last year celebrating the completion of this extraordinary home.
It is a striking ultra modern home set high on a hill top just outside a farm town in the foothills of the Catskills. He researched every facet of this passive solar home and carefully executed his masterpiece. As I drove up the winding drive, I was struck by the beauty of the setting and the rolling hills. The appealling home was built into a hillside and equally satisfying: when I entered the upper floor there was a wall of glass facing south framing the lovely view. There was a sleek concrete floor with radiant tubes embedded in the thermal mass and a sophisticated ventilation system exchanging interior air. The auxiliary heat was a start of the art radiant system and there were plans for the future PV system. All in all, it was very impressive.
Fast forward to a year later.
Now he is living in this beautiful passive solar home and he shared with me some of the problems he has encountered in the past year.
- There are wide swings in temperature throughout the house; i.e., it might be 85 in the glass-walled livign room and 55 in the lower level entry space.
- He pointed a fan down the staircase to boost convection currents.
- The glare in the living room can be almost unbearable on a sunny day.
- He plans to increase the capacity of the ventilation system in an attempt to better distribute the warm air.
- And, he's discovered that there's not a whole lot of solar gain in the Catskills in January and February but he has to contend with thermal loss through the whole wall of glass.
And this is exactly why PeaPod Homes' double envelope makes sense. The sunspace isolates the thermal gain and distributes it gently and evenly throughout the structure producing remarkably stable temperatures in the interior by natural convection. The carefully placed windows and walls prevent blinding glare. And heat loss is minimized as the south glazing is in the sunspace, not the interior.
I applaud anyone who has the dedication, patience and resources to conduct an elaborate experiment like my friend; however, most of us want to get it right the first time. PeaPod Homes' double envelope passive solar home packages makes sense!
by Van B. Krzywicki Founder /Director PeaPod Homes LLC
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