History of passive solar building design

Pre-modern History

The techniques of passive solar building design were practiced for thousands of years, by necessity, before the advent of mechanical heating and cooling. It has remained a traditional part of vernacular architecture in many countries. [cite web
last = Crosbie
first = Michael J.
title = Sustainability by ‘Amateurs’
publisher = AIA Architect
date = 2008-04-04
url=http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0404/0404rc_face.cfm
accessdate = 2008-05-07 ] There is evidence that ancient cultures considered factors such as solar orientation, thermal mass and ventilation in the construction of residential dwellings. Fully developed solar architecture and urban planning methods were first employed by the Greeks and Chinese who oriented their buildings toward the south to provide light and warmth. [Butti and Perlin (1981), p. 4,159] Nearly two and a half millennia ago, the ancient Greek philosopher Aeschylus wrote: "Only primitives & barbarians lack knowledge of houses turned to face the Winter sun." [cite book
last = Butti
first = Ken
coauthors = John Perlin
title = A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture
publisher = Cheshire Books
date = 1980
location = Palo Alto, CA
isbn = 0-917352-07-6] Similarly, Socrates said: "Now, supposing a house to have a southern aspect, sunshine during winter will steal in under the verandah, but in summer, when the sun traverses a path right over our heads, the roof will afford an agreeable shade, will it not?" [cite book
last = Xenophon
authorlink = Xenophon
title = The Memorabilia
edition = Book III, VIII
url = http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/bookid.1792/sec.25/
isbn = 0892410000] Roman bathhouses had large south facing windows. [cite web
title=The History of Solar
publisher= United States Department of Energy
url=http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf
accessdate=2007-09-29] Solar design was largely abandoned in Europe after the Fall of Rome but continued unabated in China where cosmological traditions associate the south with summer, warmth and health. [Butti and Perlin (1981), p. 159]

Modern History

mines.Fact|date=January 2008

Architect George F. Keck was a pioneering designer of passive solar houses in the 1930s and 40s. [cite book
last = Boyce
first = Robert
title = Keck & Keck: The Poetics of Comfort
publisher = Princeton Architectural Press
date = 1993
location = Princeton, NJ
isbn = 1878271172] He designed the all-glass "House of Tommorrow" for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago [Citation
last = Collins
first = Judith
last2 = Nash
first2 = Al
title = Preserving Yesterday’s View of Tomorrow: The Chicago World’s Fair Houses
journal = Cultural Resource Management
volume = 25
issue = 5
pages = 27–31
year = 2002
url = http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/25-05/25-05-07.pdf] and noted that it was warm inside on sunny winter days prior to the installation of the furnace. Following this he gradually started incorporating more south-facing windows into his designs for other clients, and in 1940 designed a passive solar home for real estate developer Howard Sloan in Glenview, Illinois. The Sloan House was called a "solar house" by the Chicago Tribune, the first modern use of that term. Sloan then built a number of passive solar houses, and his publicity efforts contributed to a significant "solar house" movement in the 1940s.

In the United States, interest in passive solar building design was significantly stimulated by the 1973 oil crisis. [cite book
last = Borasi
first = Giovanna
coauthors = Mirko Zardini, eds.
title = Sorry, Out of Gas: Architecture's Response to the 1973 Oil Crisis
publisher = Edizioni Corraini/Canadian Centre for Architecture
date = 2008
isbn = 8875701431] Dozens of pattern books were published in this period, including the "Passive Solar Energy Book" by Edward Mazria. [cite book
last = Mazria
first = Edward
authorlink = Edward Mazria
title = The Passive Solar Energy Book
publisher = Rodale Press
date = 1979
location = Emmaus, PA
isbn = 0878572376] In 1977, the U.S. Department of Energy was created, and in 1978 Solar Energy Tax credits were provided. In 1979, President Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House.

Contemporary developments

Passive solar technologies were incrementally refined and greatly improved during the 20th century, boosted by the motivation of the, and aided by the development of 3D computer modelling techniques.

At the start of the 21st century, passive solar building design has received greater interest. U.S. Solar Energy Tax Credits were reinstated in 2005, [ [http://www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm Department of Energy - Tax Breaks ] ] and the 2007 Energy Bill provided more funding for solar energy research and solar air conditioning.

The U.S. Department of Energy's 2007 "Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings International Conference" presented a comprehensive workshop on "Three Decades of Passive Solar Heating and Cooling Lessons Learned" [cite web | title = Three Decades Of Passive Solar Heating and Cooling Lessons Learned | publisher = U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Buildings Technology - "Thermal Performance of the Exterior Envelopes of Whole Buildings Tenth International Conference" | url = http://www.ornl.gov/sci/buildings/Workshops_07.html#14 | accessdate = 2008-01-18 ]

Since 1978, roughly 300,000 U.S. buildings have demonstrated at least some passive solar design features (although over 25 million U.S. buildings have been constructed since then without using these techniques).Fact|date=January 2008 For three decades - since the 1978 U.S. Solar Energy Tax Credits, 70% to 90% energy consumption reduction has demonstrated in experimental construction passive solar and near zero energy buildings. [http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/research/buildings/zero_energy/lakeland/index.htm "Side By Side Comparison"]

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon has demonstrated some advanced creative designs, using both passive and active solar systems, by architecture and engineering student teams from around the world. [http://www.solardecathlon.org/ Solar Decathlon website]

See also

* List of pioneering solar buildings
* Passive solar building design

References