Sources:If you want to read more on solar technologies we found these books really helpful:The New Ecological Home – A Complete Guide to Green Building Options – by Daniel D. Chiras |
Green Technologies: Sun"Did you know that it is estimated that the world's entire petroleum resource is roughly equal
to the amount of solar energy that reaches the Earth every day?"
Greg Pahl – "Natural Home Heating"
Passive SolarWe were very surprised to learn that just by positioning the largest windows of the house in a
suitable fashion (facing south) and using materials that create a "heat sink" in the house
that we could expect to derive approximately 65% of all of our heating needs without increasing
the cost of the house, and without purchasing any special gadgets. This "heating" phenomena occurs even
during the Albertan winters which can be cold and long.
We're going to try to increase our heating capabilities by adding thermal shutters which should further diminish heat loss. But no matter how great passive solar is (and it really is that great), we'll still need backup systems because if the sun doesn't shine for a few days the house is going to get cold – no matter how well it is insulated. So, we're looking at various other renewable energy sources to augment our passive solar design. Over the course of the build, we'll come back to this concept time and again to let you know what we've learned. In the meantime, we've listed some sites on this page that we've found especially helpful on passive solar. Active SolarWe'll be installing an active solar system to generate power to operate our electric appliances.
Our system – which will rely primarily on photovoltaic ("PV") cells, relies on the renewable energy
source of the sun to create usable power. Through a system of PV solar and batteries that store
the power from the sun, it is our goal to derive more than 80% of power without using the generator.
We'll be updating our adventures in PV solar as the system gets designed and then is ultimately implemented. We're talking with different suppliers of photovoltaic cells to determine which supplier we think will best suit our needs. |
