In building an ecological home, the materials and technologies utilized are very important in striving to be sustainable, however, the homes design is equally significant when it comes to making a home efficient. In the Inman news article, “More architects designing homes with sun in mind,” author Arrol Gellner discusses the benefits of using “passive solar design” in order to allow the suns natural lighting and heating capabilities to supersede the need to use BTUs.
When designing a home with passive solar layout, one must recognize exactly where and when the sun will enter the home throughout the course of the day. Breakfast rooms and sometimes bedrooms should face east in order to receive the sun’s morning light, while rooms with afternoon usage, such as dining rooms, should face west.
Developer and Devonshire Company Broker Steven Caplan and his partner architect adhered to such guidelines when designing the nearly completed an energy efficient luxury home in Boulder County. The home is designed in a U-shape to allow it to have as many windows as feasibly possible to enable natural solar lighting and heating. The home also uses the aforementioned room placement guidelines to have a functional and energy efficient floor plan.
The home’s windows are made of Jeld-Wen Low E glass, a type of insulating glass that blocks UV rays and the sun’s infrared heat, keeping homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Another energy saving feature in this home is Solar Tube lighting, which eliminate the need waste electricity on lights during the day. Solar Tubes are 10-20" cylindrical tubes with mirror lined walls that allow the suns light to pass through the home's roof and into the home, heat free. Hopefully, we can all look foreword to a future with more homes built with such logical design schemes that dramatically increase a home’s energy efficiency.
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