Editing Passive solar building design (section)

==Other passive solar principles==

===Passive solar lighting===
{{Main|Daylighting (architecture)}}
Passive solar lighting techniques enhance taking advantage of [[Sunlight|natural]] illumination for interiors, and so reduce reliance on artificial lighting systems.

This can be achieved by careful building design, orientation, and placement of window sections to collect light. Other creative solutions involve the use of reflecting surfaces to admit daylight into the interior of a building. Window sections should be adequately sized, and to avoid [[over-illumination]] can be shielded with a [[Brise soleil]], [[awning]]s, well placed trees, glass coatings, and other passive and active devices.<ref name="autogenerated1">Chiras, D. The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling. Chelsea Green Publishing Company; 2002.</ref>

Another major issue for many [[window]] systems is that they can be potentially vulnerable sites of excessive thermal gain or heat loss. Whilst high mounted [[clerestory]] window and traditional [[skylight (window)|skylight]]s can introduce daylight in poorly oriented sections of a building, unwanted heat transfer may be hard to control.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Greenerhome/DG_064374 |title=[ARCHIVED CONTENT&#93; Insulating and heating your home efficiently : Directgov – Environment and greener living |publisher=Direct.gov.uk |access-date=2010-03-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://allwoodwork.com/article/homeimprovement/reduce_your_heating_bills.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917055254/http://allwoodwork.com/article/homeimprovement/reduce_your_heating_bills.html|archive-date=2010-09-17 |title=Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter – Overlooked Sources of Heat Loss in the Home |publisher=Allwoodwork.com |date=2003-02-14 |access-date=2010-03-16}}</ref> Thus, energy that is saved by reducing artificial lighting is often more than offset by the energy required for operating [[HVAC]] systems to maintain [[thermal comfort]].

Various methods can be employed to address this including but not limited to [[window covering]]s, [[insulated glazing]] and novel materials such as [[aerogel]] semi-transparent insulation, [[optical fiber]] embedded in walls or roof, or [https://web.archive.org/web/20130701184144/http://www.ornl.gov/sci/solar/ hybrid solar lighting at Oak Ridge National Laboratory].

Reflecting elements, from active and [[Daylighting (architecture)|passive daylighting]] collectors, such as [[light shelves]], lighter wall and floor colors, [[mirror]]ed wall sections, interior walls with upper glass panels, and clear or translucent glassed hinged [[door]]s and [[sliding glass door]]s take the captured light and passively reflect it further inside. The light can be from passive windows or skylights and solar [[light tube]]s or from [[Daylighting (architecture)|active daylighting]] sources. In traditional [[Japanese architecture]] the [[Shōji]] sliding panel doors, with translucent [[Washi]] screens, are an original precedent. [[International Style (architecture)|International style]], [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] and [[Mid-century modern]] [[architecture]] were earlier innovators of this passive penetration and reflection in industrial, commercial, and residential applications.

===Passive solar water heating===
{{Main|Solar water heating}}

There are many ways to use [[solar thermal energy]] to heat water for domestic use. Different active-and-passive solar hot water technologies have different location-specific economic [[cost benefit analysis]] implications.

Fundamental passive solar hot water heating involves no pumps or anything electrical. It is very cost effective in climates that do not have lengthy sub-freezing, or very-cloudy, weather conditions.<ref>Brian Norton (2011) Solar Water Heaters: A Review of Systems Research and Design Innovation, Green. 1, 189–206, ISSN (Online) 1869-8778</ref> Other active solar water heating technologies, etc. may be more appropriate for some locations.

It is possible to have active solar hot water which is also capable of being "off grid" and qualifies as sustainable. This is done by the use of a photovoltaic cell which uses energy from the sun to power the pumps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://martinandrade.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/passive-solar-energy-my-edit.pdf|title=Solar Energy Home Design|last=Andrade|first=Martin|date=6 March 2011}}</ref>