This is an overview of Tracey's very nicely designed passive solar
home on Prince Edward Island, Canada -- see the links and video for full
details.
Some of the unique features include: berming on the winter wind sides,
a roofline that provides good interior lighting, solar gain and summer
heat gain protection, ICF
walls, passive solar windows, light tubes for interior lighting...
If you are wondering if an energy efficient, passive solar home can be
built on a budget, here is the answer.
Description and Video Tour from Tracey
Click on the picture for the video
The video (above) is of an earth-bermed (North/West sides only), ICF
(insulated concrete foundation), passive solar house in Prince Edward Island,
Canada.
It is a three bedroom, 1 bath, 1218 square foot house on slab (frost wall and
insulation under the slab) that has polished concrete floors and uses
Solatubes to add lighting
in areas where there are no windows to add natural day lighting.
The walls are 12 inches of ICF www.nudura.com
(insulation/concrete/insulation) up to the rafters (approx R-50)- 16 foot high
walls in the main room (12 feet at the back wall) on the front south side with
lots of windows to capture the sun in the winter. The overhang on front of
a sloped steel roof to prevents overheating in the summer months.
Interior walls are wood with gyproc and are 10 feet high, except the bathroom
and hall.
We are adding a wood stove for back up heat, however don't feel we will need
more than 2 cords.
The solar strategy for home -- this is an early version of the home with a
complex roof that was simplified for cost reasons.
In the book I list the energy for electric for our last house (we were using
4 cord of wood plus $2,000 in oil/year) and definitely plan to track energy on
this house.....we think we will have $100/month electric (hot water and rest of
electricity) plus maybe some wood for the very cold and non-sunny days...other
passive solar houses in the area wood construction not ICF report 1/2 cord
(earth bermed on three sides) to 2 cord (just wood open to the elements) a year
for their back up heating with wood.
