Had a friend in the Blue Ridge Mountains who had a poured concrete home set
partially into the slope. The sloped wall of south-facing windows warmed a
huge block of poured concrete that was about 30 inches by 30 inches by the
width of the wall of windows. All that mass effectively stored the solar
gain and she said that the place would stay at least 55 degrees if she went
away for a week in the winter. Usually she kept her home downright
tropical with her only other source of heat, a woodstove. Despite this,
she only used about a quarter of a cord of wood a year. It stayed nice and
cool in the summer, too. Shades filtered the summer sun and a small
skylight was all that was needed to vent excess heat. BTW, one south
facing window was clear to take advantage of the gorgeous view, but the
rest were frosted to prevent the annoying glare so many solar homes suffer
from.
Carol (and Brodie)
zone 8
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 1999 1:11 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [ecopath] Solar..Roof Overhangs
<snip> Since we are building from scratch and trying to design a low
maintenance, eco
friendly home I'd appreciate hearing more about systems like radiant
heating,
insulated concrete etc. Timber frame was my first preference..but it seems
too
costly. And adobe or strawbale in the humid southeast doesn't excite me.
Best to all. Frank
