Building

Sustainable building using Passive Solar Design

An important part of sustainable building is passive solar design. With this method, sunlight is used to control the temperature of the building while no other sources for energy are utilized. Due to the 100% success rate of passive solar design it is one of the best types known to man for sustainable building. Due to the design of the building sunlight is allowed in to generate enough heat without having to resort to other technologies using regular environmentally damaging fuels.

Adequate knowledge about the rotation of the sun and behavior of solar light and using the proper materials are the key to successfully making use of passive solar design.

When designing a building there are three levels to be considered when making use of passive solar design. These levels are:

• Direct, refers to the use of windows and other parts of the design that can capture a short cycle of the sun's energy.
• Indirect, refers to the use of all means to absorb heat like walls, earthed roofs and water tanks. Basically everything that can heat up through the light of the sun.
• Isolated, the means used for this level are intended to release the captured solar energy throughout the building. Chimneys and stoves are specifically designed for it.

This fabulous technique designed to preserve and make the best use of natural energy takes great skill to design and build in order to make effective use of it.  
Location is crucial to making effective use of passive solar design. In case the building is exposed to sunlight too much and large windows or glass doors are being used, these buildings could generate too much heat during the day, making the building uncomfortable during those hours. Therefore locations to build must be examined carefully before designing and constructing the building using the passive solar design approach for sustainable building. Other buildings, trees and other objects providing shade must be factored into the design as well.

Taking all the above into account, all involved in designing the building along with its future occupants should carefully examine the materials, that will be used for construction of the building, Some materials will absorb heat slower than others, while other materials will release it faster than others. In this, the most important factor would be the walls of the building.

The location, type and size of the windows to be used should be carefully selected, again taken all the surrounding into account as well.

In order to truly understand the passive solar energy concept for sustainable building it is recommended to visit these types of buildings before attempting to create them.
If possible locate buildings near the construction site that already use this method and examine how they make use of the sun's natural resources for heat. What materials were used to create these buildings, and most important how effective did they turn out to be?

When all factors are considered the last decision that needs to be made is whether or not to install air-conditioning in order to ensure the building can stay cool day and night.