solar home, definition of

A solar home refers to a house that has been designed specially to benefit from passive solar design principals; i.e. using the Sun to provide heat in winter, whilst avoiding it heating up the house excessively in Summer.

• What is a Trombe Wall and how can you use one?
  Trombe Walls can provide free heating, cooling and ventilation. We explain how Trombe Walls work; how to build a Trombe Wall and how such a wall saves money by reducing energy usage.
• What is convection and how it effects your heating costs
  Convection directly effects the cost of keeping your house warm in winter. This article explains what convention is and some practical tips on how to battle convection.
• 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.
• 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..

• These zero energy ready homes are solar and energy efficient
  Lots of people want to have more sustainable homes, not just to help the environment. Because at the end of the day, it's a lot more affordable to get your energy from the sun and the wind than to pay some oil or coal plant to provide it. But for many...
• This Victorian home brings a modern twist of inside out
  When you first find ZZ Top House, nestled between Victorian cottages in a warehouse district of Sydney, it's hard to tell what you're looking at. Is the kitchen and living room outdoors? Are there walls or windows on the ends? This modern home is full...
• Check out these affordable solar homes from Edifice Upstate
  Edifice Upstate is a design and build agency in the west Catskills who create affordable solar-powered homes. It was founded by New York-based award-winning architecture and design studio Marc Thorpe Design. They partnered with local builders and sustainable...
• Crimson Bluffs Home uses passive solar and cooling to weather the extreme Montana seasons
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• Solar SILO home uses light to feel much larger than its actual size
  Daylight, fresh air, and greenery fill this self-sufficient solar home that feels much larger than its actual size. Students from the Missouri University of Science and Technology designed this net-zero dwelling, named SILO, short for ‘Smart Innovative...
• Deltec launches line of super efficient, net-zero energy homes – starting under 100K
  A company in Asheville, North Carolina is taking prefabricated design to a new level of sustainability with their latest Renew collection. Deltec Homes has responded to the increasing demand for net-zero energy housing by amping up the efficiency and...
• Hurricane-resistant SURE HOUSE wins the 2015 Solar Decathlon
  The Solar Decathlon is hosted by the US Department of Energy and gives students from around the world the chance to showcase their talents by designing a solar-powered home that represents the future of sustainability...
• This modern prefab home has windows that double as solar panels
  Chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to compete in the annual Solar Decathlon student competition, Sacramento State’s Team Solar NEST (Natural, Elegant, Sustainable, Tranquility) spent months designing and planning the Reflect Home. The 996-square-foot...
• Net-zero Happy Meadow Courtyard House is a perfectly passive residence in North Carolina
  Happy Meadows Courtyard House is a modern, age-in-place, net zero passive house designed by Chapel Hill, NC, architect Arielle Condoret Schechter. Constructed primarily of 5500 psi concrete, the 2300-square-foot one-story house is nestled on a hill in...
• TAOsHouse: Net-zero passive house built in senior co-housing community in New Mexico
  The TAOsHouse is located in Valverde Commons, which is a sustainably oriented, adult co-housing community just a 15-minute walk from Taos’ historic plaza...

Related Tags: passive solar, esd, green building