The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling | 
| Author: Daniel D. Chiras
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $17.78
You Save: $12.17 (41%)
New (36) Used (11) from $16.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 12748
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 1931498121
Dewey Decimal Number: 697.78
EAN: 9781931498128
ASIN: 1931498121
Publication Date: October 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Pages are bright, clean, and unmarked. Binding tight/ spine sraight and uncreased. Book is gift quality.
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Product Description
Passive solar heating and passive cooling--approaches known as natural conditioning--provide comfort throughout the year by reducing, or eliminating, the need for fossil fuel. Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved. Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book The Natural House, brings those principles up to date for a new generation of solar enthusiasts. The techniques required to heat and cool a building passively have been used for thousands of years. Early societies such as the Native American Anasazis and the ancient Greeks perfected designs that effectively exploited these natural processes. The Greeks considered anyone who didn't use passive solar to heat a home to be a barbarian! In the United States, passive solar architecture experienced a major resurgence of interest in the 1970s in response to crippling oil embargoes. With grand enthusiasm but with scant knowledge (and sometimes little common sense), architects and builders created a wide variety of solar homes. Some worked pretty well, but looked more like laboratories than houses. Others performed poorly, overheating in the summer because of excessive or misplaced windows and skylights, and growing chilly in the colder months because of insufficient thermal mass and insulation and poor siting. In The Solar House, Dan Chiras sets the record straight on the vast potential for passive heating and cooling. Acknowledging the good intentions of misguided solar designers in the past, he highlights certain egregious--and entirely avoidable--errors. More importantly, Chiras explains in methodical detail how today's home builders can succeed with solar designs. Now that energy efficiency measures including higher levels of insulation and multi-layered glazing have become standard, it is easier than ever before to create a comfortable and affordable passive solar house that will provide year-round comfort in any climate. Moreover, since modern building materials and airtight construction methods sometimes result in air-quality and even toxicity problems, Chiras explains state-of-the-art ventilation and filtering techniques that complement the ancient solar strategies of thermal mass and daylighting. Chiras also explains the new diagnostic aids available in printed worksheet or software formats, allowing readers to generate their own design schemes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Gives more detail than other books February 28, 2008
I've read many other green building books. What I liked about this one was that it really goes into the nuts and bolts more - it give more detail than other books including some of Dan Chiras's other books - which I guess makes sense since it is about a limited area/topic.
 A Great Reference for building December 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book covers much more than Solar Energy by including many energy saving features to build into a house. I bought a copy for both my Architech and General Contractor.
Good overview of passive solar designs November 4, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Everyone I talked to stated this as the first book someone should read to come up to speed on passive solar designs. And it is a good overview. But only an overview, providing lots of concept and a few "rules of thumb" only. Taken for what it is, this is a very good introduction to passive solar concepts. You'll have to look elsewhere for more detailed information if you plan to participate in the design phase of a passive solar building, or to learn enough to evaluate another's design. There are a few good references in the book to other materials as well.
Amazing book - quite possibly the BEST on solar building July 13, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
My copy of this book is a mess. It has highlighting and notes all throughout the pages and looks well worn even though I've only had the book for a year.
When the time came to do some studying on solar design, this was the book that was recommended to me. And for good reason - it packs a wallop and provides SO MUCH great information in its pages. At the time I got the book I was somewhat of a novice to solar building and was concerned that the book would have too much jargon or concepts that I didn't understand, but Chiras does such a great job explaining everything in layman's terms that by the time I finished the book I felt like an expert myself.
I HIGHLY recommend this to ANYone looking to building solar/green. I consider it the best of the bunch.
The Solar House: Passive Heating & Cooling May 23, 2007
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is excellent and received in great condition. Thank you. - jac
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