Window Orientation and Shading

window orientation and shading

“In sunny southern locations, protecting your windows from the sun is an important component of good window management. The first step is to know how the sun moves through the sky and to orient the building and place the windows in it so as to minimize direct solar admission through your windows.” Read more.

“Sustainable By Design provides a suite of shareware design tools to calculate the right dimensions and placing for your specific location, wherever you are.

  • SunAngle: our premier tool for solar angle calculations.
  • SunPosition: calculates a time series of basic solar angle data.
  • Sol Path: visualization of the path of the sun across the sky.
  • Window Overhang Design: visualization of the shade provided by a window overhang at a given time.
  • Window Overhang Annual Analysis: visualization of window overhang shading performance for an entire year.
  • Overhang Recommendations: suggested climate-specific dimensions for south-facing window overhangs
  • Light penetration: visualization of the penetration of sunlight into a room
  • Louver Shading: visualization of louvered shading system performance for an entire year.
  • Vertical Fin Shading: visualization of a vertical fin shading system performance for an entire year
  • Window Heat Gain: calculation of monthly heat gain through windows.
  • Panel Shading: visualization of the shading of rows of flat panel collectors throughout the year.”

Interesting follow-up at Treehugger.

How to Build a Spiral Pump

spiral pump

“A spiral pump, first invented in 1746, has been recreated and tested at Windfarm Museum using lightweight and inexpensive modern materials. A 6 foot diameter wheel with 160 feet of 1-1/4 inch inside diameter flexible polyethylene pipe is able to pump 3,900 gallons of water per day to a 40 foot head with a peripheral speed of 3 feet per second.

With its low torque requirements, the pump is particularly suited to be mounted on and driven by a paddle wheel in a current of two feet per second or greater. This easily built, low maintenance spiral pump can be used to provide water without the need for fuel wherever there is a flowing stream or river. It can also be hand turned or otherwise driven to provide a low cost, efficient pump.”

Read more: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Thanks to Paul Nash.

See also:

DIY Heirloom Technology

Heirloom technology at makeprojects.com. Small collection for now.

Home Made Air Conditioner

Low-tech cooling2 From the comments:

“How about using the toilet tank? In the US all accept the most expensive low water toilets have a large enough tank. This would eliminate the cooler, the water would circulate avoiding unwanted mold/bacteria, each flush would bring in cool water, and the pump and cold packs would reduce water usage.”

“So, would you want me to make a looped system using a toilet tank as a source of constantly cool water?”

“I freaking love this idea.”

“It’s entirely doable, if you’re willing to have a decent length of tubing running through your house. It might be a great way to cool a bedroom thats near a bathroom though… Great Green idea!”

Home Made Air Conditioner at Instructables.

Appropriate Technology Sourcebook

appropriate technology sourcebook “Welcome to the online edition of the Appropriate Technology Sourcebook which reviews over 1,150 of the best books on appropriate technology.

This is the online version of the latest edition guide to practical books on village and small community technology. Over 50,000 print copies of the previous editions have been used in more than 130 countries to find a wide range of published technical information that can be used by individuals and small groups.

In the new edition, 1150 publications are reviewed, covering small water supply systems, renewable energy devices such as water mills and improved cook stoves, agricultural tools and implements, intensive gardening, nonformal education, small business management, transportation, small industries and other topics.”

All previous entries in ‘Books & Reference‘.

Solar Heating System with Water Battery

Solar Heating System with Water Battery

Dutch inventor Kees van der Geer sends us this paper and wants to know what we think of it. Comments are open.

“Heating with a sun collector costs nothing and contaminates nothing. In this article I propose a solar heating system consisting of a large solar collector, suitable for the heating of a house and a heat store, capable to bridge a week of cloudy weather. Both are made from simple materials.”

“Maybe a practical solution to make a heat store is to buy a inflatable swimming pool of 17m3 and construct an insulating box around it. ”

Large area solar heating system (pdf), Kees van der Geer, 2011. (Artículo en Español).