More and More and More Green Elements in Buildings – part b

More and More and More Green Elements in Buildings – part b

Passive solar design benefits Australian houses due to the large temperature difference climate. This kind of design uses sunshine to heat and light up the interior space so that the use of electrical devices can be minimised. The building orientation, placement of windows and certain materials can achieve this.

For Australia, the orientation is best for solar gain when elongated on an east-west axis. The building’s northern face should receive sunlight between the hours from 9a.m. to 3p.m. Interior spaces that requires the most light and heating such as living room, dining area should face the north, less used space should face the south. Placement of window should follow the orientation to maximise the northern sun gain. This is becaus heating is needed for nighttime when it is in winter, which has a large temperature difference from morning to evening.

The use of materials should have large thermal capacity. This benefits building both in summer and winter. Thermal capacity is the amount of energy required to heat up a degree in certain material. Therefore, if such material has high thermal capacity, it slows down the heat gain in summer afternoon, therefore cool the building interior. On the other hand, it reduces the heat loss in winter evening due to its large thermal capacity.

The proper design for passive solar gain can be done through a careful spatial management and massing. However, accounting on other issues such as site dimension and security reasons, the passive solar gain cannot be maximised in every individual building’s design. To averagely increase the family benefits from this, a collaborate building agreement from neighbours maybe a way out.

References:

Elements of Green Building

http://theconstructor.org/building/buildings/elements-of-green-building/5375/