Stories are helpful...
As I travel around the country casually surveying and eyeing the built environment, I can't help but notice the continued wasteful use of expensive energy. Structure after structure were designed and built without any regard as to the amount of direct gain occurring through fenestrations that lack proper shading in the summer months.
In Arkansas we are blessed with trees. One of the biggest benefits of trees - and for that matter any other type of vertical vegetation - is the amount of shade they provide. Just ask most any animal (if we could) how important shade is to their survival!
The overwhelming majority of building occupants faced with the overheating of their living space due to direct thermal gain choose to address the issue with interior blinds, shutters, shades, drapes and curtains. Unfortunately, those measures are minimally useful and effective in reducing thermal gain.
Every square meter of glass taking direct thermal gain in the summer months, adds significant cooling load to the structure it's installed in. Addressing this thermal gain only from the inside of any structure means the battle has already been lost. Current analysis shows that, between 40 to 50% of current energy demand is attributable to heating and cooling structures that have been constructed with little consideration of the sun's influence in mind.
Creating shade to prevent direct sunlight from striking window and door glass during the summer is as simple as it sounds and the only way to effectively eliminate the heat from direct gain in the structure in the summer months. The Department of Energy explained as much back in 1994.
Shade can be created in a number of ways. In the 1950's, houses were routinely equipped with building applied metal awnings located over those windows that were in the "wrong place." Appropriately-located vegetation can be another suitable choice in some situations, especially on the East and West side of structures. Operable exterior shades or using mechanical fasteners and or Velcro® to adhere a simple screen frame with Solar Screen is certainly an economical option. Every home will have its own special circumstances. Accomplishing the objective at the lowest cost is best solution.
I have helped install both operable shades and custom ordered screens using Velcro®. Not all of the screens with Velcro® stayed attached. I found that vinyl window frames are tough to maintain suitable contact. Some of the screens fell off over time and had to have new or additional Velcro® applied. Velcro® attached in a mechanical (rather than adhesive fashion) is possible in some situations. This is simple stuff that has an excellent return of your investment. A trial group in Little Rock who installed outdoor screens love their screens and are suggesting others consider do the same. The next round of solar screen installs will include Velcoins® which can survive temperatures up to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
Go Solar!
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Frank Kelly
Little Rock AR
frank@solarsourceconsulting.com------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 07-22-2022 09:17 AM
From: Andrew Stone
Subject: Passing on solar knowledge to new generations
We all love our PV electric power - especially paired with battery storage - but SOLAR is so much more.
Consider: 7 billion people won't have PVs - but they will have passive solar, solar cooking, solar hot water (even if just a black bag in the sun with a spout), solar food drying, and of course, solar to grow all their crops.
Perseveration on how many N-way junctions we can do on a piece of silica is important, but it's not the whole picture.
The year was 1976 - Ed Mazria's "The Passive Solar Energy Book" was just notes being passed around between architects and architectural students at UNM. We left school with the how-to make passive solar houses with the right overhangs for summer shading and the right amount of mass for year round comfort.
I visited with some recent UNM Architecture student graduates - they had no idea what passive solar design was. I practically cried, and am so glad to see Debbie helping bring this sustainable knowledge forward, right when it is needed most.
Andrew Stone
Commercial Solar Lending
Original Message:
Sent: 7/21/2022 12:44:00 PM
From: Debbie Coleman
Subject: RE: Passing on solar knowledge to new generations
Great question Kat! I am interested in encouraging anyone (new or old!) in the building design industry (architect, designer, engineer, etc.) to recognize the potential of passive solar for heating, and of airflow and thermal mass/ground temperatures for passive cooling strategies. I was so happy to see Edward Mazria show in his presentation at SOLAR 2022, the amount of potential solar energy that a building receives both on the roof for PV and on the south-facing wall (in the northern hemisphere) that can be used to reduce our dependency on other sources of energy. (see attachment) Of course, this depends upon proper shading of the south windows to reduce summer overheating, but those strategies are inherent in good passive solar design. Here is one of my favorite tools for shading design. https://susdesign.com/overhang/index.php by Christopher Gronbeck.
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Debbie Coleman
Sun Plans
debra28@sunplans.com
https://www.sunplans.com
Original Message:
Sent: 07-18-2022 08:40 PM
From: Kat Friedrich
Subject: Passing on solar knowledge to new generations
If you have 20 or more years of experience in clean energy, what are you interested in doing to pass on your insights, ideas, and stories to new generations?
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Kat Friedrich
Editor in Chief
Solar Today
ASES
kfriedrich@ases.org
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