The sun is extremely powerful. Obviously, it is the basis of all life on our planet. The majority of people do not understand just how much energy is contained in sunshine. For example, how many times have you left an automobile in a parking lot only to come back and find it blazing hot inside? This is passive solar at its best. The sunshine penetrates through the windows and heats up the interior of the automobile. Now you understand passive solar and, ironically, one of the potential problems with it.
When it comes to passive solar heating in a home, it can work too well. Regardless of whether you are intentionally or inadvertently pursuing passive solar, you understand how hot a home can get. During the summer, it can be downright harsh. There are, however, simple steps you can take to alleviate this problem.
The first problem has to do with intrusion. Basically, too much sun is penetrating into your house. You already know the answer from a common sense point of view, shading. In this case, you should pull the shades over windows on the south facing side of your home. In the northern hemisp Day & Night Air , the south side of your house will always get the most sun. If you do not want to put shades up, close the door to the room in question to cut off the heat flow. You can open it later in the evening when things start getting cooler, and you could use a bit of heat.
If you are intentionally designing for passive solar, there is a landscaping technique you can do to make the most of passive solar production in winter, but, limit it in summer. In this case, we are talking about trees. Particularly, you ought to plant trees that grow a heavy leaf canopy in the summer, but lose all their leaves in the winter. Put in front of large windows, these trees will act as a natural temperature regulator for your passive solar system.