Passive Solar Energy - Looking at Passive Solar House Plans

Ideas on using passive solar energy around your home. The article following was written by Pam, a resident of Houston Texas. She offers some great ideas in the area of passive solar house plans. She writes:

Actually, part of my system actually came from among a bunch of peanuts, the packing, not the eating kind. I have two small windows in my bedroom which were un-insulated and provided almost no usable light, but let a security light shine in my face at night.

In a package I received, the item was wrapped in bubble wrap and packing peanuts, none of which cost me a cent. The packing peanuts were used to insulate places where plumbing and other things entered a poorly designed apartment that was once a two car garage. The bubble wrap was used in double layers to insulate the small windows.

Bubble wrap gives about 8 to 10 "R" factors of insulation compared to the one of plain single glass panes. I also found that it seemed to be helpful in focusing sunlight when I added a black panel on the room side in winter to add some heat. Total cost $0 and a little time. The bubble wrap can be peeled off easily and stored or reused on another window. Bubble wrap can be purchased but many places who receive fragile items will give it to you on request. Furniture stores, lamp stores and china shops have been good sources for me.

In another window that gets some sun a large part of the day, I installed a solar oven.This only requires a mirrored surface, some black panels and some heavy plastic sheeting. I got the sheeting from a friend who had purchased a whole roll of black silo liner to passively heat his swimming pool for nothing but some homemade baked goods. I used salvage silver Mylar sheeting for the mirror. The rest of my oven was a few cents worth of nails and paint and some scrap boards and a hinge scavenged from throw away building materials.

On sunny days, I could cook in it, and even on cloudy ones it was great to reheat food without using a stove or microwave oven. The cats also liked to be under the part inside because it was always warm. On very hot days, I used a reflective panel to keep out some of the sun. You could build a fancier or more efficient oven and cook whole meals by using a real mirror and some insulation around the box, but I didn't go that far.

I also rigged up a battery charger to a few I found for nothing on Craig's List. The panels were mounted outside to get the most sun and the wires run to the storage battery and the re-charger plugged into that. Most days, I could fully recharge four AAA or AA batteries, or the 9-volt for the smoke detector. I did have to buy the storage battery and connections, but I figure the electricity saved paid for that in less than a year, and the last two years are free. In another house we made a solar heater that kept the garage warm all winter. A small fan was used to circulate the warm air. We live in Houston, TX, USA which has mild winters but even during the few subfreezing days, the heater made it tolerable to work in the garage with no other heater. This solar heater was made of a frame of scrap wood and used water-filled aluminum cans filled with water and sealed, then painted flat black.

Previously we had tried empty black cans for passive solar energy, but it seemed to retain heat better with the water. The black paint used to cover the cans and the inside of the box came from a dollar store and only amounted to a couple of bucks total. The Plexiglas cover on the outside was a couple of odd size sheets in the bargain bin at the lumberyard. As I remember, we spent $10 for enough for each box. To turn the heat off, we had a panel of irregular plain plywood to slide into a grove.

Prior to using this design, we simply turned the box around, but that was a pain after we connect a fan instead of just using radiant heat which was not much help. The fan was a display model marked down because there was no box. Who needs a box to work a fan? It was about $15. A bigger fan might be needed for a larger space, but this small one was fine for a garage.

An old friend of mine uses a passive solar energy system like this to collect heat to warm water and has a hose that runs from the passive collector indoors. He does not even own a traditional water heater, since this system is adequate for most of his needs. He is somewhat a survivalist, and if he needs more than the passive solar heater provides, he has a high efficiency stove to heat water, and burns only free wood or paper in it. I have a medical condition that requires keeping the house pretty cool in the summer, and since I bake a lot of yeast bread, this means very slow rising. To get around that, I made a deliberately inefficient solar oven that stays at about 80ºF and keeps things nicely warm for yeast risen baked goods. Since solar heat is variable with clouds and so forth, I needed a way to may sure this rising oven did not get too hot. The solution was a probe electronic thermometer set to alarm at 90ºF to prevent killing the yeast. I would then adjust the shade to tame the temperature. Since I already had this terrific kitchen thermometer, there was no extra cost for it.

It’s also useful when cooking meat to get the correct internal temperature. Apartment living has meant more limited opportunity for using solar energy but I figure every little bit helps Passive Solar Energy - Garden Lights

I also have used a solar garden light to illuminate my entry way at night with a photocell that turns it on when it gets dark. It also seems to be somewhat helpful as a security device to have a light on the door making any suspicious activity visible from the street.(Note - Actually solar cells are active solar energy not passive solar energy)

My next passive solar energy plan is to get one of the backpacks with solar panels to recharge my cell phone or MP3 player. I also want to get some of the little lamps that collect energy from light during the day and give a soft evening lighting. There are diagrams online for making your own since they are a little pricey and I may do that.

If we want our children’s children to have a decent world, we all have to start doing even the smallest things to help. It can even be fun as a family project. Pat For more information on passive solar energy, click here.

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