Solar Village Turn-key Homes
Passive Solar Design
The most important feature of a Solar Village Home is that it takes advantage of the benefits provided for FREE by mother nature: sun, shade, breezes, thermal mass and natural features of the homes location.
This is called Passive Solar Design.
The following facts describe why a Solar Village Home performs
at a much higher level than a typical home:
Home orientation
All Solar Village Homes have been designed to have one side of the home face south towards the sun. It is very important to have the southern elevation for each of our models match up to the southern aspect on your desired lot. Some of our models can be mirrored to accommodate additional home orientations (contact us to discuss your lot).
The following sketch gives you an idea on how to properly orient a Solar Village Home:
Shading
Solar Village Homes keep out unwanted summer sun to minimize the need for cooling and allow in winter sun to naturally heat the house. Shading is done in two ways:- All Solar Village Homes are designed to keep the summer sun out of south facing windows via the homes roof overhangs, awnings, and other features that are part of the home. It is nearly impossible to keep the western sun out of the house without using trees (see next bullet).
- Plant deciduous trees on the south and west sides to shade the home from the summer sun and let in the winter sun when the trees are leaf free.
Thermal Mass
The way to heat or cool a home for free is to take advantage of thermal mass. Thermal mass is comprised of materials like concrete or gypcrete, tile, granite, drywall, water tanks, etc… The benefit of thermal mass is that it stores the heat coming in through the proper amount of southern windows in the winter and if you keep the sun out in the summer it creates a naturally cooling effect. The same effect you feel in basements because of thermal mass in the concrete walls. Passive heat and cooling is free and is naturally comfortable when compared to cool or hot air from ducts. All our homes come with a 1.5 inches of lightweight gypcrete under the 1st level flooring and 5/8” drywall on the walls for thermal mass. Depending on the floor coverings, interior wall finishes, and counter tops chosen, additional thermal mass can come from tile, slate, stone, and quartz or tile counter tops (some of these options may be upgrades to our base specification).Insulation
The final part of the passive home story is to insulate and seal the home to keep unwanted outside hot or cold air out of the home depending on the season. A Solar Village Home has a premium insulation system, learn more on the Icynene Insulation page.Kick back and enjoy your free heat and cooling
in a Solar Village Home!!
© 2008 Solar Village Homes
