Solar Passive Heating Components

Abstract

To utilize the sun’s energy into sustainable building, it must be collected, stored, and then distributed at the appropriate time. This process must be controlled, and an auxiliary heater provided for the time when there is not sufficient solar energy available or stored to satisfy the heating load. The discussion below, however, concentrates on space-heating systems, though most of the elements discussed are directly applicable in systems. All materials can store heat to some degree, but a good storage medium material must absorb heat when it is available, and give it up when it is needed, and it must be a relatively good heat conductor. The sun’s energy can be effectively used to temper outdoor intake of air for ventilation through a sunspace and to exhaust indoor air by the inductive stack action of a solar chimney. Sunspace known by many names, such as, solar room, greenhouse, and solarium is a versatile approach to passive solar heating.