Passive Solar housing

[John U]

Wanting to get a gauge on what percentage of the population understands the concept of passive solar housing. Been looking to buy a passive solar house (or something resembling one) for the past ten years. It appears about 1 in 30 houses in my neighbourhood are built to take advantage of the sun. Maybe less. A lot of new houses appear to be built with no idea if the concept.

 

[Boom King]

Surely you are after a house that has been built using an array of passive design principles? One that, if designed well, will eliminate (or at least greatly diminish) the need for auxiliary heating and cooling.

 

[Freediver]

It's currently 12 outside and 20 inside. North facing double glazed windows are doing their job, even on a seriously overcast day like today. I don't understand why more people don't use the free energy.

 

[Switch]

It can be frustrating trying to get the return on your investment when it comes time to sell though. I have a 7* rated (double glazed low e glass, correct orientation, Solar, LED through out etc.) house but struggling to sell as it is not the normal brick veneer box the masses seem to want and they can't seem to fathom something out of the ordinary. Should be in LTIH.

 

[Dales Cannon]

When I built I made the axis of the house run E/W. The Western end has a carport and then garage. The lone West wall, all 3m of it is insulated. Solar on most of the North facing roof. 3m veranda on that side. Higher than usual ceilings but not massively high ($). Still lost the fight for ducted ac. 5:1.

Being on acreage you can get away with this easily though there are still those whose frontages face West because they want people driving on the road to see the best view of the house.

 

[99_FGT]

Living in qld now i can say very few.
Knew a bloke in tassie that built his with the basalt blocks behind the double glazed north facing windows and everything
First week in brisbane went out to springfield, the estate on the golf course.
Double story brown brick houses with brown tile roofing. No eaves, the gutters were barely past the walls. No insulation in the walls or roof.
There was a sign offering free upgrade of the ducted air con.

 

[John U]

Surely you are after a house that has been built using an array of passive design principles? One that, if designed well, will eliminate (or at least greatly diminish) the need for auxiliary heating and cooling.

Fuck yeah. I’ll take everything I can get, but maximising the gain from widows to the north, with minimal/no windows to the east and West is a really basic ‘must have’ for me and virtually no houses are built that way in my area. These are principles I understood as a 10 year old. Why doesn’t this basic principle get used in 97% of the builds in my area? Free heating and lighting! Be mad not to.

% wise the results are outstanding for burners so far. If only you all lived in my area and we’re selling.

 

[John U]

It can be frustrating trying to get the return on your investment when it comes time to sell though. I have a 7* rated (double glazed low e glass, correct orientation, Solar, LED through out etc.) house but struggling to sell as it is not the normal brick veneer box the masses seem to want and they can't seem to fathom something out of the ordinary. Should be in LTIH.

Interesting and disappointing. You using an agent?

 

[Switch]

Interesting and disappointing. You using an agent?

Yep even changed agents to no avail. Was an agent myself 20 years ago and although it sickens me how much they get for how little they work you need a go between to potential buyers.

 

[ozzybmx]

My house faces North, on the side of the hills in rAdelaide. I have a million reno's going on and all is going well to the detriment of my riding kms.
I have currently 240 x 18 inch square windows on the front of my house, roof to floor glass over the whole front of the house and over 400 of these 18" square windows around the house. I work as a Power Generator bloke and get little discount from them... but how much is the cost of changing these windows to double glazing, rather than pay the power bill (we have had double glazing in Ireland since forever)

Double glazing is a given over there... here its a luxury supposedly and massive premium to anyone building a home. THEN if you want to change your windows to double glazing on an established property... its a bend over job. Sadly, not worth the hassle when you take in the cost of doing it versus the power bill over the next 20yrs.

 

[rowdyflat]

Principles are simple really.
I am living in my 3 rd solar passive house.
Currently renovating my business office building , home made retro double glazing on the inside or outside of the existing glass isnt really hard or necessarily expensive.
Unfortunately most builders and owners are clueless and still building silly boxes with dark rooves + poor shading which chew energy to keep warm or cool.

 

[moorey]

It’s more than just the orientation of the house and double glazing, while they’re very important. It’s also about things like the floors, and the building materials, and their ability to collect and store the suns heat (as well as deflect it).
We put a lot of planning into passive solar when building our house. We live in chilly Ballarat with just a modest sized wood fire to heat the whole house.
External walls are 2’ thick straw bale, all windows are DG (lots of glass, at that), and there’s a large internal mud brick wall to provide thermal mass. All of the living area, and everywhere except bedrooms are hard floors, mostly polished concrete and a bit of floor boards.
Internal ceilings are 5m high, with a ceiling fan used in winter to push the warm air down.
Like @Dales Cannon, we are on acreage, and had the luxury of orienting our house as we wanted.

 

[rowdyflat]

Yep Moorey is right thermal mass is v important in inland Victoria where we have hot summer days /cool nights+ coldish winters.
Thermal mass in proportion to window area.
Most brick veneer boxes have only the concrete slab, often covered w carpets or floor boards .
My house has huge thick rock walls, celestory windows at the highest point inside to let out summer heat at night.

 

[rowdyflat]

Switch if you live in Porepunkah just promote it right + be patient, there must be a market for it.
Bright is full of cashed up baby boomers .

 

[Rider_of_Bikes]

Switch if you live in Porepunkah just promote it right + be patient, there must be a market for it.
Bright is full of cashed up baby boomers .

I'll second this, my wife and I just bought in Porepunkah. The market here is going crazy. We have watched a few houses suit though as we are moving into winter.

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[moorey]

.
My house has huge thick rock walls, celestory windows at the highest point inside to let out summer heat at night.

Yeah, forgot to mention the window opens. It stays open 4 months a year in the warmer weather and sucks all the heat out.

This is the internal mud brick wall with the celestoty(ish) windows. The one up in top left winds open. It’s about 5.5m high there.

 

[Switch]

Switch if you live in Porepunkah just promote it right + be patient, there must be a market for it.
Bright is full of cashed up baby boomers .

The new build is in Porepunkah, the old house is in Myrtleford. If the old house was in Bright or Punka it would have sold five times over. The difference between 20 minutes down the road is incredible. When in Bright/Punka every second car has a bike on the roof, down the road in Myrtleford every second car has someone smoking a cigarette.
Was involved with a build 10 years ago where the owner installed tile and concrete under the window on the North Facing side that perfectly captured the winter sun to act as thermal mass then in summer the eaves were at the perfect angle that the sun never came through the window. I believe the angle should be equal to your Latitude.

 

[Rider_of_Bikes]

Where abouts in Punkah are you building? We may be neighbours.

The new build is in Porepunkah, the old house is in Myrtleford. If the old house was in Bright or Punka it would have sold five times over. The difference between 20 minutes down the road is incredible. When in Bright/Punka every second car has a bike on the roof, down the road in Myrtleford every second car has someone smoking a cigarette.
Was involved with a build 10 years ago where the owner installed tile and concrete under the window on the North Facing side that perfectly captured the winter sun to act as thermal mass then in summer the eaves were at the perfect angle that the sun never came through the window. I believe the angle should be equal to your Latitude.

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[rowdyflat]

Yes Switch now I understand Myrtleford is a completely different market.

 

[Switch]

Where abouts in Punkah are you building? We may be neighbours.

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Going to be in Station Street in the subdivision completed at the start of the year.