# New house plans with solar



## zabe (Mar 30, 2006)

We are making plans to build a new house on our farm soon. We would like to use as much alternative energy (mostly solar) as possible, but we aren't sure where to start. We will be doing all of the work ourselves, so we don't want to hire someone to set it up for us. Is there a good book (one for dummies, if possible), or some other resource we could use to get us started? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


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## JAK (Oct 15, 2005)

I love green field projects. I will be living vicariously through you. I will assume you live here in New Brunswick, because that is pretty much all I know. 

I would suggest that even if you read all the books that have been written you will still be able to discover a new way to do something, and it will probably have been already done before. So whatever you read, and whatever you do, if you don't really believe in it you should probably do something else. 

Regarding energy there are essentially 3 different qualities of energy in a homestead. Higher qualities of energy are the most difficult to produce and should not be squandered to readily on lower qualities of energy.
1. High Quality - Electricity, Mechanical Power, Lighting, Heat for Welding.
2. Medium Quality - Heat for Cooking, Heat for Hot Water.
3. Low Quality - Heat for Space Heating at room temperature, or lower.

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning is a bit of a conundrum, since you are actually trying to get rid of energy in this case. If you have an availble heat sink, like the outdoors in winter for refrigeration, or the ground temperature in summer for air conditioning, then this can save you some high quality electricity. A little electricity should go a long way for refrigeration if you go about it right and recover the heat for something like preheating hot water.

For Solar Energy passive solar is the easiest since you are only trying to achieve low grade heat. The biggest cost is the glazing. If you have a nice view to the South or want to enjoy grow some indoor vegetables year round this will help justify the cost. If you go for South Facing vertical glass you can get a good bounce off the snow in winter, and you will have less overheating in summer. If windows are floor to ceiling they can be cheaper per square foot and you can elimate the cost of building a wall only to cut it out. If you only glaze 50% of the area of your south wall you will save on glass and will find it easier to incorporate some practical means of thermal shutters to stop heat loss at night. The thermal shutters would ideally be on the outside to stop condensation on the inside, but inside might work also if you can make them tight.

Solar hot water is the next easiest, but is easier to do in summer because you get about twice the sun and you don't have to contend with as much heat to the cold environment. In winter you can heat your hot water using combined heat and power, recovering heat from power generation for hot water, and recovering heat from hot water heating for space heating, and preheating the cold water destined for hot water heating by using it to make your refrigerator more efficient.

Solar power is the most difficult, especially in winter in northern latitudes. It is also more difficult to do yourself. You might be able to build a solar stirling engine or a solar steam engine if you are handy, but growing your own photo-voltaic cells is impractical. So it is hard to get away from $5/watt, though the price should be dropping for the next 20 years or so. I would suggest you generate some solar electric power if you are off grid, but that you reduce your electrical power needs dramatically before doing so, and suppliment your solar electricity with generator power, especially in winter. Wind power is often available also, and can be home grown, but requires more storage, so it should also be just a portion of the mix.

As far as architecture goes it depends on many factors. It should the landscape. It should be of human scale and suit your functional needs and sentiment. You can often reduce capital and operating costs by combining several functions in one room, and several buildings under one roof. You could have a round barn with your animals, and sillage, and work shop, and utilites in the basement, living quarters on the upper level, and a savonius wind turbine in the center of your shallow, conical, sod roof. Use your imagination. It should be something you can design and build yourself. It should most essentially be a dwelling, not a building. If it the design and implementation is not beautiful and harmonious with your land and your lifestyle, then it is not complete.


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

zabe said:


> We are making plans to build a new house on our farm soon. We would like to use as much alternative energy (mostly solar) as possible, but we aren't sure where to start. We will be doing all of the work ourselves, so we don't want to hire someone to set it up for us. Is there a good book (one for dummies, if possible), or some other resource we could use to get us started? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!


Hi,

There are quite a few solar heated house ideas here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/solarhomes.htm
and solar heating for houses:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

Some of these can be good DIY choices.
The strawbale construction offers good energy efficiency and low cost wall construction -- but, lots of labor.
The book thats listed at the top here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/constructionps.htm#Straw Bale
gives a very detailed, hands-on description of building a pretty sensible strawbale house. The people who did the book have built dozens of them, and have worked out a lot of the kinks. Your library may have the book.

I think that the concrete slab floor with pex pipes for heating is a good solar heating alternative. It lets the floor do two jobs for the price of one (ie be a floor and provide thermal mass for heat storage).

Solar air collectors can be integrated with normal wall construction, and can provide substantial heat without adding very much cost. 

You have lots of choices to make -- I'd look over the possibilities and ask more questions. 

Good Luck!

Gary


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