Passive Solar, definition of

Passive Solar

Passive solar design refers to the use of the sun's energy for the heating and cooling of living spaces. With this approach, the building itself or some element of it takes advantage of natural energy characteristics in materials and air created by exposure to the sun.

Passive systems are simple, have few moving parts, and require minimal maintenance and require no mechanical systems. Often the thermal characteristics of materials are extensively used, often termed as Thermal Mass design.

EcoWho Articles where 'Passive Solar' used:
  • Buying a House
    Buying a house can be one of the biggest financial decisions you will make, we provide some advice on how make it go more smoothly and how to ensure you find a property that is good for you and the environment.
  • Carbon Offsets, what they are and how they help
    Carbon offsets can help with reducing overall carbon emissions by possibly balancing out the carbon impact on the environment. This article goes into more detail on the subject.
  • Ecologically Sustainable Development, what it is and how you can do it
    Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) is defined and explained in detail in this article; and how it helps you to be more green and eco friendly.
  • Solar Water heating, how it works and the options available
    Solar hot water heating uses the sun to heat hot water. We explain what the hot water heating options are, their advantages and costs.
  • DIY Decking Oil
    Decking oil can be expensive, we explain how to make your own timber decking oil cheaply and apply it.
  • The importance of building orientation
    Building orientation to the Sun is important to reduce energy consumption, keeping comfortable and saving money. This article explains how best to get building orientation correct. Through a combination of benefits and opportunities the correct building orientation could save you thousands.
  • What is Passive Solar?
    Passive solar building design is explained and how passive solar principals are used to design green homes and buildings, and save you money.
  • Green Home Building and Ecology in Australia
    Info and sites that help with building a sustainable and green home in Australia and useful government agencies to be aware of. Also advice on dealing with architects and builders.
  • Keeping your home Cool in Summer or Warm in Winter for free!
    How to keep cool or warm in your home by design, either in Summer or Winter, whilst reducing costs to you and the Earth..
EcoWho blog posts where 'Passive Solar' used:
  • Passive Solar Design advice
    Passive Solar design can be applied to existing buildings as well as new buildings. We explain some useful techniques and give links to useful resources.
  • Passive Solar
    Passive Solar is often banded around as a good thing to do to make your house more green; we look at it in more detail.
Online tools where 'Passive Solar' used:
  • Passive Solar Design Eaves Calculator
    Works out the ideal Eave depth for a given height of window and world location; so the Sun comes in in Winter but not Summer, maximizing the passive solar effect.

Related Tags: passive solar, architecture, green building

Search the Web for Passive Solar
What is Passive Solar?
Passive Solar definition.
About Passive Solar.
Passive Solar Design

Passive Solar Design is undergoing a resurgence as more people not only recognise the comfort benefits and lower energy bills of solar architecture, but now see a way of helping reduce the polluting effects of green house gases through less reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooling.

Basic house design principles include:
  • Orientation of the main living areas towards the North (or South if in the Northern hemisphere)
  • Glazing used to trap the warmth of the Sun.
  • Thermal mass to store the heat from the Sun.
  • Insulation to reduce heat loss or heat gain.
  • Ventilation to capture cooling breezes.
A well designed solar home should remain within 18 degrees C to 28 degrees C throughout the year and save 60% to 70% in average household heating costs.

EcoWho blog posts where 'Passive Solar' used:
  • Passive Solar Design advice
    Passive Solar design can be applied to existing buildings as well as new buildings. We explain some useful techniques and give links to useful resources.
Online tools where 'Passive Solar' used:
  • Passive Solar Design Eaves Calculator
    Works out the ideal Eave depth for a given height of window and world location; so the Sun comes in in Winter but not Summer, maximizing the passive solar effect.
News & Blog articles where 'Passive Solar' used:

Related Tags: passive solar, green building, thermal mass, solar homes

Search the Web for Passive Solar Design
What is Passive Solar?
Passive Solar definition.
About Passive Solar.
Passive Solar Energy

Passive Solar Energy is the energy captured by a building from the Sun and used to either heat or cool a building.


The heating is usually a direct mechanism, where as the cooling is done by using the Sun's energy to help displace heat within a building, for instance by 'sucking' air through a property using a roof ventilation system.

News & Blog articles where 'Passive Solar' used:

Related Tags: passive solar

Search the Web for Passive Solar Energy
What is Passive Solar?
Passive Solar definition.
About Passive Solar.
Passive Solar Heating

Passive solar heating is one of several design approaches collectively called passive solar design. When properly combined, these strategies contribute to the heating, cooling, and day lighting of nearly any building. The types of buildings that benefit from the application of passive solar heating range from houses to large office facilities.

Passive solar heating typically involves:
  • Solar energy collection through properly-oriented, south-facing windows.
  • Storage of this energy by "thermal mass," which are building materials with high heat capacity such as concrete slabs, brick walls, or tile floors.
  • Distribution of the stored solar energy back to the living space, as required, via the mechanisms of natural convection and radiation.
  • Window specifications to allow higher solar heat gain coefficient for Solar facing glazing.
Passive solar heating systems do not have a high initial cost or long-term payback periods, both common with many active solar heating systems. 

Another benefit to passive solar heating is increased comfort: if properly designed, passive solar buildings are bright and sunny and in tune with climate and nature. As a result, there are fewer fluctuations in temperature, resulting in a higher degree of temperature stability and thermal comfort.

News & Blog articles where 'Passive Solar' used:

Related Tags: passive solar, thermal mass

Search the Web for Passive Solar Heating
What is Passive Solar?
Passive Solar definition.
About Passive Solar.

Click on a letter to see all the terms and definitions that begin with that letter.

A free Android app containing all these definitions is now available, called the Green Dictionary. Click here to see the entry on the Android market; or click here if on an Android phone.