Passive Solar Home Design
What is this project?
There were two driving question for this project. They were How can we design a home that is comfortable in all conditions without the use of electricity? and What is the most efficient way to heat and cool a home? There were eight parts to this project, all leading up to the final goal of designing a house. Here's the steps to designing the house.
1. Design a solar hot water heater.
2. Solar angles and how it changes during different seasons.
3. Daylighting design. Build a model home using daylighting ideas and techniques.
4. Choosing a site for the solar home.
5. Testing the materials for building the home.
6. Designing the solar home.
7. Tell why you want to build a house off the grid.
8. Design a turbine.
What we did
I was in a group with Natalie Mansergh, Cris Baggio, and Rosalie Urban. For the first step of the project (building and designing a solar water heater), we built a water heater using a cardboard box, soda bottle, plastic tubing, copper tubing, roofing insulation, paper bag, and water-proofing material. Using these materials, we were able to build a solar heater. Even though it did not work very well, it was a good experience for our group and it helped us get farther along in the project. Next we learned about solar angles. During the summer, the sun is at a max angle of 75 degrees. During the winter, the sun's max angle is 27.5 degrees. This was important knowledge to know when designing the roof for our solar home.
Solar Angles in San Marin High School
There were two driving question for this project. They were How can we design a home that is comfortable in all conditions without the use of electricity? and What is the most efficient way to heat and cool a home? There were eight parts to this project, all leading up to the final goal of designing a house. Here's the steps to designing the house.
1. Design a solar hot water heater.
2. Solar angles and how it changes during different seasons.
3. Daylighting design. Build a model home using daylighting ideas and techniques.
4. Choosing a site for the solar home.
5. Testing the materials for building the home.
6. Designing the solar home.
7. Tell why you want to build a house off the grid.
8. Design a turbine.
What we did
I was in a group with Natalie Mansergh, Cris Baggio, and Rosalie Urban. For the first step of the project (building and designing a solar water heater), we built a water heater using a cardboard box, soda bottle, plastic tubing, copper tubing, roofing insulation, paper bag, and water-proofing material. Using these materials, we were able to build a solar heater. Even though it did not work very well, it was a good experience for our group and it helped us get farther along in the project. Next we learned about solar angles. During the summer, the sun is at a max angle of 75 degrees. During the winter, the sun's max angle is 27.5 degrees. This was important knowledge to know when designing the roof for our solar home.
Solar Angles in San Marin High School
The third step in this project was to build a solar home out of cardboard using daylighting ideas and techniques. We first designed a home and then built it, making sure to provide the correct measurements and make the home as efficiently as possible.
The next step of the project was to decide upon where to construct the actual solar home. After scouting around the campus, eventually we settled on a location right behind the new cafeteria. This was a great spot because the ground is relativaley flat, there is plenty of sun, it is easily accessed by students, and it can be seen by anybody driving along Novato Blvd.
Materials testing was the next step of this project. Basically, we made a list of all the possible materials that we wanted to use in constructing the home and then tested how well they could absorb and hold heat. We did this by placing the material 12 inches under a 57-watt lightbulb. Here's a list of the materials we tested:
Flooring - carpet, bamboo, linoleum, hardwood, ceramic, cork
Insulation - coconut fiber, foam, fiberglass matting
Exterior Walls - stucco, redwood, brick, plastic PVC siding
Interior Walls - textured & flat drywall (black/white), rock
Roof - shingles, turf/sod, tin, tar
Next came the last, and definitely the hardest part of the project. We needed to design and make a presentation about our passive solar home. So we went about completing this task by dividing up jobs among our group. I made the blueprints, Natalie and Rosalie created the materials list, Cris and Rosalie made the virtual model, and we helped make the poster and real model. It was really a group effort.
Flooring - carpet, bamboo, linoleum, hardwood, ceramic, cork
Insulation - coconut fiber, foam, fiberglass matting
Exterior Walls - stucco, redwood, brick, plastic PVC siding
Interior Walls - textured & flat drywall (black/white), rock
Roof - shingles, turf/sod, tin, tar
Next came the last, and definitely the hardest part of the project. We needed to design and make a presentation about our passive solar home. So we went about completing this task by dividing up jobs among our group. I made the blueprints, Natalie and Rosalie created the materials list, Cris and Rosalie made the virtual model, and we helped make the poster and real model. It was really a group effort.
Concepts
Conduction - transfer of heat through a solid material
Convection - transfer of heat though a liquid
Radiation - transfer of heat through rays, waves, and particles
Heat - a measure of the amount of coldness an object lacks
Laws of Thermodynamics -
1st Law - If two systems are in thermal equillibrium with a third system, then they are also in equallibrium with each other
2nd Law - Entropy increases (disorder increases)
3rd Law - Temperature can never get to absolute zero
Temperature Conversion - Farenheit=Celcius(9/5+32) Celcius=(Farenheit-32)9/5
Conduction - transfer of heat through a solid material
Convection - transfer of heat though a liquid
Radiation - transfer of heat through rays, waves, and particles
Heat - a measure of the amount of coldness an object lacks
Laws of Thermodynamics -
1st Law - If two systems are in thermal equillibrium with a third system, then they are also in equallibrium with each other
2nd Law - Entropy increases (disorder increases)
3rd Law - Temperature can never get to absolute zero
Temperature Conversion - Farenheit=Celcius(9/5+32) Celcius=(Farenheit-32)9/5
Reflection
This was one of the toughest projects that we have done in STEM yet. It was a very long project, but I learned alot in doing it. What I liked about this project was learning about the transfer of heat - I don't know why, but it is just interesting to me. It might be because I like warm weather. This project required some tedious points - for example, having to redo blueprints was a wee bit annoying. But because this project had its harder sections, my group was really able to work well with each other and we got things done.
This was one of the toughest projects that we have done in STEM yet. It was a very long project, but I learned alot in doing it. What I liked about this project was learning about the transfer of heat - I don't know why, but it is just interesting to me. It might be because I like warm weather. This project required some tedious points - for example, having to redo blueprints was a wee bit annoying. But because this project had its harder sections, my group was really able to work well with each other and we got things done.