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A Water Wall Solar Design Manual for Environmentally Responsive Buildings That Increase Comfort, Save Money, and Protect the Environment

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A Water Wall Solar Design Manual for Environmentally Responsive Buildings That Increase Comfort, Save Money, and Protect the Environment 1 A Water Wall Solar Design Manual For environmentally responsive buildings that increase comfort, save money, and protect the environment David A. Bainbridge ©1981, 2005 1 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1 A WATER WALL SOLAR .............................................................................................................................................................................................1 DESIGN MANUAL ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................1 TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Build your own water wall home or office complex............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements and apologies........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1: WHY USE WATER WALL PASSIVE SOLAR SYSTEMS ............................................................................5 Table 1. Thermal Mass Comparison................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: A CAPSULE HISTORY OF WATER WALL SOLAR BUILDINGS ......................................................7 CHAPTER 3: THE BASICS OF PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN USING WATER WALLS ......................................19 Part I: An Energy Efficient Shell........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 A. Orientation........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 19 Table 2. An Example: 40° N Solar Gain Btu/sf ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 B. Insulation............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 19 C. Weatherization............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 D. Shading................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20 E. Modifying the Environment.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 Part II: Passive Solar Heating................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Six Rules for Low Cost Passive Heating ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Part III: Passive Cooling................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 22 Six Rules for Low Cost Passive Cooling ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Part IV: Performance......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Table 3. Water Wall Performance in California...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Table 4. Nationwide Performance of the PSI Clerestory Water Wall House............................................................................................................................................... 23 2 3 Part V: Passive solar systems work well......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 Table 6. Water Wall Passive System Cost: 1977 dollars....................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 4: WATER WALL CONSTRUCTION, NEW AND RETROFIT.......................................................................27 Part I: A New Home............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 27 A WATER WALL SOLAR CLERESTORY FOR THE SUNBELT.................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Part II: A Remodel ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 28 Build your own water wall home or office complex Become a solar patriot – help wean America from her dangerous addiction to imported oil! Preface In 1981 the price of energy was high and a sense of urgency was felt about reducing our dependence on non-renewable, imported energy. This soon faded and the interest in solar homes declined even as our understanding of how to make them work better increased. Some of the solar features were removed to get more interior space, solar water heaters were not maintained, shutter systems broke and were not repaired, and performance declined. 3 4 But it didn't matter, because oil was once again cheap and could be ignored, thanks to enormous subsidies (often $40 billion a year to coal, nuclear, and oil), two major wars for oil, and continued neglect of the very high external costs of non-renewable fuel use. These uncounted costs include Chernobyl ($400 billion), global warming (perhaps $40 billion a year today), nitrogen pollution, leading to the death of Swedish lake ecosystems and disruption of ecosystems around the world, adverse health impacts, and pollution of the world's oceans. This reissue of the first 4 chapters of the water wall book is in response to the deepening crisis brought about by increasing oil prices as we pass Hubbert's Peak of world oil production, the war over oil in the Middle East, and gathering evidence that global warming is accelerating and may soon spin out of control. My goals is to find the time to update and improve the rest of the book over the next
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