passive solar house plans

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I am looking for free house plans for passive solar homes. I can't find what I want and am not good at drawing my own. I have searched the net and only found berm or underground homes. I know there must be some out there. I would buy a book if it had the right plan. I appreciate any help.

-- Lani Jacobs (mlrd@together.net), April 07, 2000

Answers

I have read some good books over the years. Can't remember the names of the books but the authors are Alex Wade ( I really liked his books), Ken Kerns, and Mazera (not sure about last spelling).

-- Jeff Hays (jbhays@triton.net), April 07, 2000.

I know of no such plans since I have been looking for any, but would like to offer an opinion. As technology changes and new products are developed, so do the products that are best suited for passive solar home building. When you do finally settle on plans, make sure that they are current enough to take advantage of new and better materials such as window glass, but are still common enough to keep the price of the materials down. I hope that you find some good plans.

-- greenbeanman (greenbeanman@ourtownusa.net), April 08, 2000.

I just read a really good book on passive solar design. The author uses a solar slab instead of a Trombe wall for the heat collector. Very interesting design. I believe he also included a few floor plans as examples. Title: THE PASSIVE SOLAR HOUSE - USING SOLAR DESIGN TO HEAT AND COOL YOUR HOME, by James Kachadorian. Check it out at the library. Hope it helps. I'm dreaming of my own passive solar home.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), April 08, 2000.

Hi,

Try searching for 'FLORIDA SOLAR CENTER' Also search around the University of Central Florida web site.

I know there is a solar research center associtated with UCF.

Sorry I don't have the url's.

j

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), April 10, 2000.


There are a number of sources of passive solar plans, as well as books and other resources that can help you learn to design your own. I've been researching the subject quite heavily of late, as we intend to build such a home within the next two years. For more information, check out:

http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu/ (there is a motherlode of information here, plus links to other great sites) http://www.the-mrea.org/ http://www.ases.org/index.html http://www.its-canada.com/reed/eehp/index.htm http://www.Ecobuild.com/nesh.html http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/PassiveSol.html http://solstice.crest.org/index.shtml

There are many others, but that should give you a start!

HTH,

Gloria

-- Gloria Morris (cybergams@my-deja.com), April 11, 2000.



Check out the Enertia homes web site. They sell kits for their houses (and I'd buy one in a minute if I could), but the site also includes some good info. and some house plans. Also, I recommend checking out masonry stoves for your backup heat.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 11, 2000.

Underground solar house plans should apply aboveground. Designing and Building a solar house by Donald Watson- The Solar home book by Bruce Anderson-The Passive Solar Energy Book forgot author

-- Douglas Kalmer (sunart@netease.net), May 19, 2000.

try www.balewatch.com which contains 50 plans for straw bale houses most of which make use of passive solar gain.

-- Joe (jonail@eircom.net), April 15, 2001.

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