Pros and Cons of Sunspaces
Sunspaces – especially those attached outside the main home – are extremely popular. However, like all things, you need to carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages rather than just jumping in and building one.
Sunspaces – especially those attached outside the main home – are extremely popular. However, like all things, you need to carefully consider the benefits and disadvantages rather than just jumping in and building one.
Almost every passive solar building has a backup heating system, whether it's really needed or not. It is possible to design a passive solar home that heats itself, but it may not pass local building regulations. It will also be very hard to sell, as most home buyers simply won't believe that the house needs no heater other than the sun!
There are five options commonly available as backup heating for passive solar homes:
It is one of life's cruel ironies that the most common heating system in the USA is also one of the least environmentally friendly. Forced-air heating installations are present in over 60% of homes in the country. Of course, some are better than others – these systems have heat generated by solar thermal systems, heat pumps, and furnaces of all types (oil-fired, gas-fired, electric, or wood).
Regardless of what kind of backup heating system you put in your passive solar home – forced-air, radiant floor, baseboard hot-water, or something else – you're going to need a source of heat. And that means a high-efficiency boiler or furnace.
If your passive solar home is properly designed and everything is optimized, one of the most cost-effective backup heating systems available may be wall-mounted space heaters. For homes which only need an occasional top-up of heat or for infrequently-used rooms, they are ideal.
Modern wood stoves are not simple metal boxes to burn fuel in. They are much more efficient than traditional fireplaces and can be just as attractive. Stoves also rely on a renewable source of energy. Most modern wood stoves fit into one of two categories: radiant or circulating.
Masonry heaters are wood stoves with the welded steel or cast iron casing replaced by bricks and mortar. They are very efficient at warming an entire house, producing much higher temperatures from their fuel than standard metal stoves. Like all forms of heating, they have certain benefits and drawbacks.
A big part of the passive solar home equation resides in cutting down on how much heating and cooling you need. The lower your demands, the bigger the percentage you can cover with renewable solar energy. There are two main culprits of internal heat gain in the average home:
When you opt for radiant floor heating, you opt for the most efficient, cheapest and most comfortable heating available, especially when you combine it with a solar thermal installation. The big question for radiant floor installation is how to lay out the piping that carries the hot solar fluid through the high-mass heating medium.
Back when modern radiant floor systems were first installed, copper or steel pipes were used. They were embedded in concrete under the floor and hot water ran through them to heat the building. It doesn't take a genius to see where the problems came from: