Energy Independent Housing
by
March 2003
Sunny Future Press,
Copyright © John Canivan 2003
ISBN 0-9754980-1-0 $50.00
All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic or mechanical without the express permission of the author. Energy
Independent Housing may be purchased on line at www.JC-SolarHomes.com.
On line forum support is available.
about this book
This book is a guide to our roots.
Buckminister Fuller, who made the concept of “Doing more with less” popular,
believed that our social problems are a result of wondering too far from the
roots.
All life originates from and
depends on the sun. Farmers, who harvest sun energy, know about and depend on
the sun. The rest of us rely on a
vicarious diet of plastic wrapped food supplements. We have wondered to far from our roots and have lost touch
with our primary energy source.
Energy Independent Housing is more
than a set of blue prints for a solar home. Detailed plans and illustrations are
presented that will enable the reader to construct an energy independent
dwelling. I don’t expect everyone to build the illustrated example. The
illustrations and instructions are guidelines for a custom energy efficient
design. You will find a wellspring of joy associated with the design and
construction process and I have no intention of robbing that joy from you.
Perhaps you will decide to build a 3,000 sq ft house without a solar greenhouse
attachment and a small heat storage vault or perhaps you will go nuts and build
the first energy independent apartment complex in your town.
Heat transfer theory, fluid
mechanics, fero-cement applications, hydronic collection and storage methods
will always be the same. If you understand the theories and the applications to
the example house you should be able to apply them to most design concepts.
A glossary of uncommon terms is
available. If you come across a boldfaced word or expression that you are unsure
of refer to the glossary in back of the book before continuing. Please don’t
grope around in the dark. This book
is about sunlight. I want you to soak up all that comes your way.
RECOGNITION: My appreciation
extends to many people that made this manuscript possible such as my hard
working Dad, the general contractor, my understanding mom, my AutoCAD
instructor, Mel, the critic Riddick, Loretta, the best cookies baker on the
block and lets not forget about the little woman who had to put up with my mood
swings and grammatical incongruities during the last 8 months, my patient loving
wife, Patricia.
Table
of Contents
I. OUR SUN
a.
The Sun’s energy
6-7
b.
The Sun’s available energy
8
II. SOLAR HOME DESIGNS
a.
What is a solar home?
9
b.
Passive considerations
10-21
c.
Active considerations
22-25
III. PRINCIPLES OF SOLAR HOME DESIGNS
a.
Heat gain
26-29
b.
Heat insulation
31
c.
Heat storage
32-37
d.
Heat transport
IV. OVERVIEW
a.
Basement
39
b.
First floor
40
c.
Second floor
41
d.
Third floor
42
e.
Roof
43
V. BASEMENT
a.
Footings
48
b.
Storage vault sub floor 49
c.
Foundation walls and insulation 50
d.
Ferro-cement 51
e.
Main carrier beam 53
f.
Floor joists
54
g.
Storage vault tanks 55-63
VI. FIRST FLOOR
a.
Floor plans
64-67
b.
Lay-out plans
68
VII. SECOND FLOOR
a.
Floor plans
69-72
b.
Lay-out plans
73
VIII. THIRD FLOOR
a.
Floor plans
74
b.
Lay-out plans
75
IX. THE ROOF
76-79
X. THE SOLAR GREENHOUSE
a.
Greenhouse floor
80-82
b.
Plant beds
83-84
c.
Greenhouse frame
85-86
XI. HEAT
a.
Temperature & heat
87
b.
The greenhouse effect
88
c.
The greenhouse frame
89-91
XII. FLUID MECHANICS
a.
Vault plumbing
92-94
b.
Zone plumbing
95
c.
Collector plumbing
96
d.
Chimney plumbing
97
XIII. PLUMBING
a.
Heat storage
97
b.
Solar & chimney heat collection 98-104
c.
Heat extraction
109-111
d.
Heat distribution
112-118
XIV. RECYCLING
119
GLOSSARY 120-123
Does solar energy really work?
People often ask me this question “Does solar energy really work.” I sometimes tell them no so they leave me alone, but I have decided to be honest with you. A well-planned sunspace or solar heating system can save fuel oil and become an excellent long-range investment. Today people are earning a living from their home. Home improvement contractors, Ebay sellers and buyers, insurance sales people, real estate agents, health care professionals and so on work from their homes. A house is becoming more than a place to keep rain off heads and provide a place to sleep. It is becoming a nurturing, stress free sanctuary.
Energy efficient homes lessen the expense and burden of energy consumption. Energy independent housing sets us free from fossil fuel corporations, saves fuel oil and electricity, reverses the process of land and air pollution and promotes social harmony. The science fiction series Star Trek envisions a society very much different from the Adam Smith economy of capitalism and greed that we live in today. This Star Trek ideal is made possible by replicators capable of replicating food and other material needs. A stress free, creative environment emerges in a world where replicators replace money. Perhaps a roof full of solar collectors and solar panels are not the same as Star Trek replicators. Collectors and panels can’t make you a pepperoni pizza, but they both have something in common. They have the ability to free the human spirit for creative endeavors. I do believe that solar applications like the ones found in this book will pave the way for a more cooperative, creative era of social harmony.
Quality solar applications are the tools that connect us with the sun. If you’re living on a shoestring budget you may not have a strong motivation to invest in the long-range benefits of renewable energy technology without government assistance. I believe government can and should encourage the solar energy industry by granting property tax breaks to the renewable energy pioneers that work to save the planet. This tax break should be proportional to the energy saving capability of the equipment installed on a person’s dwelling rather than the cost of installation. Energy for life is our birthright, like the water we drink or the air we breathe. We might best tap into this boundless renewable energy by reestablishing our link with our sun.
OUR SUN
Our five billion year old sun is an ideal nuclear reactor located at a safe distance from earth. It accounts for 99.9% of the total mass of this solar system. Most scientists are optimistic that we'll still have this reactor billions of years from now.
DIAMETER:
1,390,000 km
MASS:
1.99 trillion, trillion, billion kg
SURFACE TEMPERATURE:
5,800 K
CORE TEMPERATURE:
15,600,000 K
ENERGY OUTPUT:
386 billion, billion mega watts/sec.
POWER LEVEL AT EARTH:
1.4 kilo watts / sq meter
Each second about 700,000,000 tons of hydrogen are converted
to about 695,000,000 tons of helium and 5,000,000 tons of energy in the
form of gamma rays. As this energy travels out toward the earth’s surface, it
is absorbed and re-emitted at lower and lower temperatures so that by the time
it reaches our tiny blue-green planet it is primarily in the form of visible and
ultraviolet light. Even though
solar
energy is the largest source of energy received by the Earth, its
intensity
at the Earth's surface is actually very low due to the large distance
between
the Earth and the sun and the fact that the Earth's atmosphere absorbs
and
scatters some of the radiation. Even on a clear day with the sun directly
overhead,
the energy that reaches the Earth's surface is reduced about 30
percent
by the atmosphere. When the sun is near the horizon and the sky is
overcast,
the solar energy at ground level can be negligible. It also varies
from
one point to another on the Earth's surface. Nevertheless, in the 20th
century,
the sun's energy has become an increasingly attractive source for small
amounts
of direct power to meet human needs. A number of devices for collecting
solar
energy and converting it into electricity have been developed, and solar
energy
is used in a variety of ways. Nine quadrillion (9,000,000,000,000,000)
kilowatts/hr. of solar energy fall on the continental United States. This
is the equivalent energy available from 4.25 trillion barrels of oil. The
utilization of less than .001% of this renewable resource would satisfy all our
energy requirements. So how can we put the sun to work for us? How much sunlight
is needed to heat our house? How many solar collectors will we need to supply us
with sufficient heat and hot water for a year?
How much energy can we
save by using solar energy?
The
quantity of energy available will of course depend on location, dwelling size,
insulation and heating habits. A typical 4-person house in the North America
consumes between 1,000 and 2,000 gallons of fuel oil each year. So how many
collectors would we need to harvest this much energy? An average of 4 KWH / day /meter are available in an
area like Long Island. That’s 1460 KWH / yr./ meter or 135 KWH / yr / sq. ft.
Hold the phone. What does this have to do with how much money the
sun will save me?
To
make this calculation we must know the fuel oil energy equivalent.
A gallon of #2 fuel oil has an ideal combustion output of 140,000 BTU’s
or 41KWH. This means that the amount of solar energy available to a surface area
of one square foot over the course of one year on a Long Island roof is
equivalent to the energy contained inside 135 KWH divided by 41KWH or 3.3
gallons of #2 fuel oil. If you assume that oil burners transfer heat at an efficiency
of 60% and solar collectors transfer heat at an efficiency of 80% you could
expect to harvest the energy equivalent of 4 gallons of fuel oil for every
square foot of collector surface. To summarize the possible energy savings per
year per square foot for a Long Island roof.
ONE SQUARE FOOT = FOUR GALLONS
Now we can calculate the number of 4x8 collectors needed to
supply us with enough heat and hot water for our house.
Eight collectors could save us 1000 gallons/yr and sixteen could save us
2000 gallons/yr.
The house I have chosen to demonstrate energy independent
principles is a bit larger than a conventional home so we will use high
temperature refuse incineration to back up our solar heating. This back up
system will be examined and demonstrated, but first let’s get warmed up by
reading about and looking at a few solar home designs.
II
Solar Home
Designs
What
is a Solar Home?
Any House
designed to make use of the sun’s energy could be considered a Solar Home.
The main components of a viable solar thermal system are concerned with heat
gain, heat storage, heat insulation and heat transport.
Does
this mean that all houses with large picture windows facing south should be
considered solar?
No! A house
should only be considered solar if it designed to gain more energy than it
loses. Although it is true that a house with a large picture window would have a
heat gain during the day, the heat losses during the evening would cancel the
thermal benefits. To be considered solar such a house would need to have
adequate thermal drapes drawn each evening.
Which
design is better, active or passive?
Good question. I
hear or read about this concern almost every day on news groups, mailing lists
and discussion groups. The argument goes like this:
Passive Solar… Passive systems are better because they are simple,
inexpensive and waste no energy in the heat transfer process.
Active Solar… Active
systems are better because they isolate the collection area from the storage
area to minimize heat loss and provide better control of living space
temperature fluctuations.
Sounds
like a fair argument; now answer the question.
Both arguments are viable. Generally speaking passive systems are less expensive
than active systems. Passive systems are usually best suited for mild climates
that tolerate heat loss. Active
systems work best in cold climates where the isolation of heat collection area
from heat storage area is necessary. Ideal systems combine the benefits of
active and passive. Technically
speaking an active system may be considered a passive system if photovoltaic
panels are used to harvest the electricity used to power pumps and other control
devices.
Passive
Considerations
Efficient use of the sun's energy is not necessarily a modern
phenomenon. Many centuries ago the Anasazi Indians of Southern Colorado found a
way to capture the oblique rays of a winter sun. They simply built their stone
houses against south facing canyon walls. Their solar dwelling remains are
still with us today.
During the summer solstice sunset, light shines through a
porthole and hits the very corner of a doorway of an eastern room. When the sun
sets on the day of the winter solstice, it shines through a different porthole
on the corner of the doorway to the tower. The movement of the sun's rays along
the wall is noticeable well before the solstice, so the Anasazi sun priests
would have had time to plan their ceremonies. On April 5th, when light first
became visible in the room, the Anasazi would know planting time was near.
Unfortunately
we all can't live at the base of south facing canyon wall, however if we live in
the South West we might decide to live in an alternative passive solar dwelling
called the Adobe. These are houses made from mud bricks that have tremendous
heat absorption ability. Solar radiation is absorbed during the day and released
gradually during the cold nights.
Passive solar heating is
accomplished by collecting and distributing heat from the sun without external
mechanical pumping systems. Efficient storage of heat requires separation of collector
from heat storage vaults. Passive systems are generally low tech and low
price. They may be as simple as a south facing window with a shade that is drawn
in the evening to prevent heat loss or as complex as a solar greenhouse retrofit
with a massive heat sink wall.
This passive solar greenhouse
would be a cozy little place to go on a sunny, cold January day in the North
America. As a matter of fact it might even get a too cozy. In the
Plattsburgh NY area I have recorded internal, loft, solar greenhouse
temperatures over 160 F with daytime outside temperatures less than 20 F.
What happens in the evening?
Well the outside temperature on a typical January evening in Plattsburgh may
drop below -20 F.
How about the inside temperature?
Well a simple solar greenhouse like this with no external means of heating and
no heat storage system would lose most of its heat rapidly.
A greenhouse like this would lose most of its heat within several hours
after sunset.
Is it possible to hold onto some of this
heat?
Yes.
A simple greenhouse heat storage system consists of 55gallon drums filled with
water. Water is an excellent inexpensive heat storage medium. Concrete is also
good for storing heat as long as it is insulated from the floor. Covering
the glazing after the sun goes down helps to retain the heat gain of the day.
SIMPLE CUBE OCTA HEDRON GREENHOUSE
Looks like a fun place to visit, but I’m interested in something
a little more cubicle?
Is this
what you had in mind?
Now
this is beginning to look like a real house though the living area seems a bit
small. How many square feet of living space could I expect from a cubical
house like this?
This
cubical house is designed to be 16 feet wide and 16 feet long so the combined
living space of the first and second floor would be about 500 square feet. The
greenhouse attic would add another 100 feet to this estimate, but let's not call
this living space because of the temperature variations. During
the day the attic temperature might reach 160 F. A cold winter’s evening might
bring it down to 0 F.
How do I get this heat out of the attic and into the living
quarters?
A fan would
do the trick.
But, if I use a fan to pump hot air into the house it's no longer
passive?
That's
right?
What good is it then?
Well
it's good because the fan uses less energy to heat a house than an oil burner,
and it's good because the roof is being used for heat collection and, it's good
because you have separation of collector area from storage area.
Is there anything bad about this heating
system that I should know about?
Yes
air is a poor heat transport medium. Concrete walls insulated on the outside
could be used as a heat sink to moderate the living space temperature, however
since air is a poor heat transport medium I would not recommend it. If
you’re interested in a strictly passive system a solar greenhouse might just
be your cup of tea.
It's
funny looking. Are you sure this is a greenhouse?
It's funny looking because
it's a solar greenhouse designed to maximize heat gain. The angle of the
glazing is perpendicular to the sun's rays at the coldest time of the year.
Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is transformed into infrared radiation when
it strikes a darkened surface inside the greenhouse. This infrared radiation or
heat is trapped behind the glazing. Hot air is lighter than cold air so it will
rise to the apex of the greenhouse. If we allow this hot air to flow naturally
into the house we have a classic passive solar hot air system.
SOLAR GREENHOUSE
A better more aggressive
system would pump this hot air into a low concrete lined storage vault.
Heat stored in a low location is more valuable since it has a tendency to rise
in a cold air environment. Would you like to see a simple solar home based on
the solar greenhouse principle?
Lay it on me.
Model D is a simple,
basic, inexpensive solar home.
Where
are the doors and windows and how big would this house be?
The doors
and windows could be placed anyplace you like except of course on the glazing
surface of the greenhouse. This is a generic design. It could be a single floor
dwelling or a multi floor hotel. The basic method of heating would allow
concentrated heat from the solar greenhouse to circulate around the living
quarters. The hot air that loses heat to thermal mass inside the house is
circulated back into the greenhouse where the cycle continues. Massive water
tanks or thick concrete walls inside the living space provide the thermal mass
necessary to moderate temperature fluctuations.
Sounds
a bit harsh. What kind of living space temperature swings could I expect inside
a house like this in Main.
If this
house were well insulated with adequate thermal mass I don’t believe freezing
would be a problem even with outside temperatures drops of –20 F. Inside
temperature swings between 40 F and 90 F should be expected.
I
believe I’ll pass on the model D. It’s a bit too primitive. Do you have
something more civilized that I could look at?
How about
model B, an 80-foot long house complete with solar greenhouse.
MODEL B
The
solar greenhouse is 40 feet long and 12 feet high. On a sunny Plattsburgh, NY
day in January the temperature at the apex of this solar greenhouse climbs to
180 degrees F. This concentrated heat is then pumped into the hexagonal living
quarters making the design active solar unless, of course, electricity is used
to power the fan from a photovoltaic source. This house is large. It has
five-bedrooms, two-bathrooms and a 600 square foot workshop-garage with a 200
square foot kitchen and a 350 square foot living room. Thermal mass inside the
house would be used to moderate temperature fluctuations, but additional heating
would of course be necessary for cold climates.
Sounds
like a nice house, but I don’t believe it would fit onto my ¼ acre lot. Do
you have something, less grand and a bit smaller?
How would
you like to see some real examples of solar greenhouses retrofits?
What
is a retrofit?
A retrofit
is sort of an after thought addition. Solar retrofits use special insulations,
heat sinks and glazings. Would you like to see a few?
OK.
THERMO PANE SOLAR
GREENHOUSE RETROFIT
Here is a nice little solar greenhouse retrofit in
Saranac NY about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. The five 4X8 one-inch
thermo pane panels face south. They are tilted at an angle of 60 degrees to
optimize heat collection during the coldest months of the year. The stone floor
of this greenhouse is about four feet below the outside knee-wall. The
back-wall was built of cobblestones mortared into position to provide a
heat sink. Rising hot air at the apex of the solar greenhouse pushes top flaps
open to heat the interior living space of the house. Lower flaps open into the
greenhouse to allow cold air return. Shortly after the sun sets the flaps close
to prevent living space heat from being lost into the cooling nighttime
greenhouse. Besides providing additional heat to the house the greenhouse
provides an excellent plant nursery.
KALWALL SOLAR GREENHOUSE RETROFIT
Here is a low budget
solar greenhouse entryway addition in Skyler Falls NY about 50 miles south of
the Canadian border. The 60 degree tilted glazing faces due south. The Glazing
measures 16 feet at the base and is about 12 feet long. This picture was taken
On January 15, 1980. The outside temperature was -20F. Notice that the snow has
already melted on the upper level sunroom. By 2PM I recorded a temperature of
160F inside this sunroom loft with the outside temperature still well below 0.
The inverted funnel shape of a solar greenhouse has a way of concentrating
rising columns of hot air inside the greenhouse. A fan located near the apex is
used to force this concentrated hot air into the living space.
Before moving on to
examples of vertical glazing I’d like to illustrate one more solar greenhouse
type home called model C. This is a neat little 1200 sq. ft., two bedroom house
with a 200 sq. ft. solar greenhouse attachment. This forty-foot long,
sixteen-foot wide design allows heat to flow around the first floor during the
day. The first floor acts as a simple heat storage vault. At night this stored
heat keeps the bedrooms warm. The roof is framed in a longitudinal fashion to
augment living space and conserve building materials.
MODEL C
Well the roof is more interesting than your model D, but I’m
still looking for something more conventional. Do you have some simple passive
system without all this solar greenhouse business?
You are
a difficult customer, but I am here to please. Check out the model H with the
same dome like roof that you liked in the model C. This
three story, four-bedroom house has a rear entrance to a two-bedroom
basement apartment complete with first floor kitchen and living room. The house is
about 40 feet long and 30 feet wide. Instead of a solar greenhouse it has,
what I like to call, a sunspace with large vertical windows facing south
that may be insulated in the evening.
MODEL H
Looks interesting. Could I take a peek at the first floor?
Sure.
Take a peek
FIRST
FLOOR OF MODEL H
Notice the area just behind the
front windows. This area would be great for hanging plants. The wood stove, in
the living room, is surrounded with brick to act as a heat sink. Wood may be
stored in either side of the wood stove compartments to facilitate the storage,
heating, and drying of the logs.
How practical is a house like this?
Well if you don't mind
burning wood to keep warm it is a very practical house. The solar heat gain
would be minimal, however. Would you like to see a real example of vertical glazing?
I’m
all eyes.
VERTICAL THERMO PANE SUN ROOM
This vertical glazing two-story sunroom is located in Keeseville, NY where temperatures often plummet below -20F during the month of January. The one-inch thermo pane windows face southwest. Perhaps if they faced due south the heat gain during the winter months would be a bit better, but due south is not always an option. Some people prefer the simplicity of vertical glazing. Heat losses are less than tilted glazing losses. During the cold, short, days of winter between the hours of 12 noon and 5PM the sun room becomes cozy enough to provide a nice playroom for the children. This simple passive solar addition brings a little light and warmth into an otherwise bleak environment. Unfortunately only a small fraction of the home heating needs are met with this vertical glazing system.
How about active solar systems? How practical are they?
Let's
just say the separation of heat collection area from the heat storage area is
facilitated with an active solar heating system. Active solar systems allow for
a greater diversity of design considerations and greater control of temperature
because active pumps may be used in place of passive convection currents to
transport heat. An important consideration for active solar housing is the heat
collection area. A nice steep roof facing south used for flush mounting
collectors is preferred. Many of my active solar designs are based on hexagonal
housing designs because of the steep roofs resulting from the cube octahedron
roof.
This next section on active solar designs demonstrates hexagonal solar
housing possibilities for the 21st Century.
Active
Considerations
Active solar homes use conventional electricity to run fans
and pumps that transport heat. Some people argue that active systems are
counterproductive because they waste fossil fuel to collect solar energy,
however others argue that a penny spent to harvest a dollars worth of heat is
money well spent.
Money has always been an important concern for folks about to invest in solar
applications, however money is not the only concern. Appearance is also
important. Does form follow function or does function follow form? From my
conversations and observations I have concluded they are both important. Good
housing designs emerge where form and function meet. Futuristic housing should not only look good to the eye but I
believe it should be beneficial to the spirit and the environment. Hexagonal
housing, I believe, captures the spirit of the 21st Century. Examine
some of these designs and tell me what you think:
HEX-A-FRAME
HEX-A-FRAME
is a conceptual model of a cold
climate hexagonal house joined to a square house. The side of the square house
would measure 16 feet, as would the side of the hexagonal attachment. The
diameter of the hexagonal section would be 32 feet. The total living space of a
house like this would be about 1500 square feet not counting the 250 sq foot
workshop, the 250 square foot loft solar greenhouse, the 150 square foot gym and
the 1000 cubic foot heat storage vault. The solar collectors would cover a
surface area of 250 square feet. A wood-burning stove would supply heat not
supplied by the sun.
THE TOWER
One problem with solar housing is access to sunlight.
Sometimes buildings, trees and other houses block sunlight and make solar
application impossible. This tower is a four story hexagonal house with a 13’ high cube
octahedron roof. A side of the hexagon measures 16 feet, which means that
it’s 32 feet across from one point of the hexagon to the other. The top of the
roof is 53 feet from the ground, and the living space is about 3,000 square feet.
A 250 square foot solar collector system is mounted on the roof inclined toward
the horizon at an angle of 60 degrees.
Looks cool. What is that door for on the second floor?
That
door is designed to open onto a second floor balcony. It would be a simple
matter to accommodate several second floor balconies.
52 feet from the ground is too high. Most building departments do
not allow structures higher than 35 feet.
This
is true. There are also many places where the height of the Tower would be a
problem, however there are also many places where it would be OK.
A
special feature about hexagonal housing has to do with the variety of patterns
that emerge when hexagonal units are combined. For example this is one
possibility for three hexagonal units. I call this the Hex-3.
HEX-3
The
Hex-3 is made from three hexagonal units toped with interlocking cube octahedron
roofs. Two 250 sq. ft. collector arrays are mounted on the outside hexagonal
units. The interior unit could be a second floor greenhouse or a photovoltaic
array. The Hex3 measures 80 feet by 40 feet with a height of 33 feet. The living
is easy inside this house with a living space surface area of 6,500 sq. ft.
Notice that all the roof surfaces could not possibly all face due south. Still
80 % or more of the sun’s energy would be available to an arrangement like
this.
Well that's it for the first two chapters. The entire 14 chapter comb bound book may be purchased from the Strawberry Fields Solar Book Store by clicking on the strawberry. This book comes with two Multi Media Shows on Solar Thermal Energy , Sun Heat and Oil Story. An eBook version is available without CD-ROMs.
