In order to achieve a simple long term low maintenance, low cost, passive solar building design, several basic considerations are essential.
These pages, as outlined in the links above, will sketch out fundamental elements and begin to show how they can be integrated in a rather complex manner to create simple long term energy efficient and self sustaining building design solutions for Passive Solar Gain & Use.
The term "Passive" in this context means that there is a minimum of external energy used in the long term maintenance of the building.
Most solar buildings are not completely self sufficient in the technical sense. There are however, buildings that actually harvest solar energy and contribute to their local power grid. This is usually done with the use of photovoltaic array collectors which produce electricity. (See the Zero Net Energy Resources).

Dynamic well integrated design is the key. Taking the complex confusing problem to the simple long term low energy solution is the challenge.

This site is for:

• People who may be building a new house, remodeling an existing house or perhaps just building a green house and would like to incorporate some or all of these concepts.
• This is material that an unskilled individual might take to an architect or a contractor in order to get started.

Resources:

BetterBricks: http://www.betterbricks.com
Affiliated with the University of Oregon Department of Architecture and the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory in Portland, OR.

The Passive Solar Energy Book by Edward Mazria; Rodale Press 1979
This is probably the single most informative book on Passive Solar Design that I have seen. There are great drawings that are easy to understand and good technical information as well. Even though it is from 1979, this information never becomes outdated.

Edward Mazria Architect http://www.mazria.com

The Solar Greenhouse Book: Cullagh, James, ed. . Emmaus, Penn. Rodale Press, 1978.

Solar Age Resource Book New York: Evereat House, 1979: McPhillips, Martin, ed.

The Integral Urban House, Self-Reliant Living in the City: San Francisco: Farallones Institute, 1979.

Solar Dwelling Design Concepts: US. Department of Housing and Urban Development. . Washington, DC.: IA Research Corporation, 1976.

Natural Solar Architecture: A Passive Primer: Wright, David. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1978.

Zero Net Energy Buildings

• Zero Net Energy Homes; Christopher Dymond; Oregon Department of Energy: Zero Net Energy Homes — (18 pg. pdf; 7 MB)

• http://oregon.gov/ENERGY/RENEW/Solar/index.html

• Google this title

• I have about 513 MB of presentation documents from the combined Oregon & Washington Departments of Energy Conference on Zero Net Energy Buildings 2003. You would need Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint applications to view these files.
  Contact me if you are interested: www.goodboyproductions.com

• The Rose House; Portland, OR: The Rose House —(17 pg.pdf ; 1.7MB)

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