House Plans Solar

I’ve been meaning to write up several articles and book reviews that are in draft form on this blog for a while now and perfection has been my enemy. In the spirit of this site I thought I’d link to some of the best online low/no cost solar house plans - emphasizing passive solar plans as I feel that is the BEST option.

There are two great sites with free plans that I can recommend:

1. Appalachian State University Energy Center Affordable Passive Solar Homes Planbook. This is a set of really nice inexpensive plans for North Carolina. Since this climate has hot, humid summers and can have really cold winters it is a good fit for most of the country. If I were to adapt these plans for my brothers in New England (Massachusetts border with New Hampshire) I’d recalculate the overhangs, increase the foundation frost depth, and slightly increase the roof insulation but everything else is already close to ideal. If I were going to use these plans in my location (Huntsville, AL) I’d again modify the overhangs (increasing them in this case) but keep the rest the same. Nice COMPLETE plans with all the details etc. The only complaint I have is the designers selected asphalt shingles and imply vinyl siding; I abhor these two selections - they are cheap in a bad way with a short lifespan - metal roofing and hardiboard cement siding really should be designed in as these are MUCH cheaper over the building lifespan for a small additional initial cost.
2. Building Science Consulting Designs and Plans for Affordable Housing. These plans do not emphasis passive solar like the Appalachian State ones do but they have several a different plan for each climate region for the USA. I really would recommend moving the windows around on these plans to put the majority of the windows on the south side and fewer on the east/west sides of the house. Then you’d need to add additional thermal mass to the home as well. In the end I’m recommending these plans because they are MUCH better than standard planbook house plans you can typically buy (and these are free) BUT they aren’t house plans solar optimized for your climate. They use some shading overhangs and obtain some passive solar heating but there is still quite a bit of optimization available. I’m quite certain that these aren’t optimized in order to produce plans that do not need to be oriented with the sun. Too bad they probably could save another 20% on their customers heating/cooling bills.

Good luck with your plan selections - please remember to be extremely suspicious of angles glass - I’ve seen lots of solar house plans from the early 70’s on the internet and they will really cook you out of the home in the summer (or cause a HUGE A/C bill).

Have you found any other solar house plans online? Let me know in the comments and I’ve review/comment on them here.

1. Orientation - this will provide passive heating and cooling benefits PLUS lifestyle benefits like a well lit glare free interior without the need for electrical lighting in the daytime. Different designs for different climates and ideally for different building sites.
2. Shading - notice that this is more important than passive solar heating. Even in colder climates (New England) a poorly designed glass box WILL overheat. The amount of shading needed will vary but look for overhangs on south (equator) facing glass and movable shading or deciduous trees on the east and west side of the home. Be very concerned about non-vertical glass anywhere in the core home. Angles glass tends to overheat spring/summer/fall.
3. Passive Solar Heating - Orient the majority of windows to the south (equator) which will restrict the heat gain from the high summer sun and maximize the heat gain from the low winter sun. Climates that have A/C demands for more than a couple of week should consider restricting glass on the east and west sides of the homes or providing LOTS of shade on the east and west side of the home that can be removed in the winter.
4. Thermal Mass - This is a battery in your home that will charge during the day storing heat in the winter and discharge in the summer at night reducing cooling demands in the summer. Think concrete, adobe, sheetrock, tile and water all of which can store a large amount of heat in your home. This thermal mass needs to be inside of the insulated envelope and ideally directly sunlit in the winter.
5. Glazing - This can be a somewhat confusing subject - the new Low-E glass windows that are finally becoming standard on homes are GREAT on the non-south facing windows but can be WORSE than the standard dual pane insulated glass windows on the south facing side as they will not let the heat from the sun enter the home in the winter. Make certain that your builder knows this and uses the specified windows on the south facing wall - if your architect or supplier of house plans solar optimized for your climate doesn’t appear to understand this please run away!
6. Insulation - Energy codes for insulating homes have finally caught up to the passive solar home - designing to current energy standards with careful sealing and detailing by your builder will result in a home that is able to obtain the majority of it’s heating from the sun. Super-insulating is a method to insure against future price rises in energy (over the current $4-$5 per gallon of heating oil) and I highly recommend it but is not required.

To build a home that obtains the majority of it’s heating and cooling from it’s design select or design house plans solar optimized for your climate. Remember simple, passive, and massive design elegance is the way to go!

Remember please watch out for the following signs of a BAD passive solar house plan:

1. Overglazing - more than 20% of the total exterior wall area of the home is glass.

2. Angled glass - it can be okay on a completely seperate room that you can close off with insulated doors from the rest of the home but in general this is a sign of a bad design that will overheat.

3. Orientation - Plan doesn’t say what direction needs to be south (facing the equator)!

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You need a house. Your going to have it built - why do you care if it’s solar or not? $121,997.10 That’s how much you can save on a SMALL house. If your house is the new average size you can save two to four times that much.

It sounds crazy but a typical home in America cost $400 per month - average - for heating and cooling. Even in a non-optimal climate a house plan that is solar optimized can save you 20 to 40% on your heating and cooling bills. In the american southwest you can save even more 60% is not that hard to do.

If your an engineer or architech - you can go on from here to design your home - but for the rest of us you need a plan. Specifically you need a house plan - solar optimized for your climate that you can live in and afford. The best solar house plans I’ve been able to find are in the book “Sun-inspired House” by Debra Coleman.

Click here for literally the best house plans - solar optimized to reduce heating/cooling costs and be bright and sunny. Live solar!