RULES OF THUMB FOR PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE 2009 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S SOLAR DECATHLON HOUSES

摘要

In order to promote reduced residential energy consumption and the implementation of building integrated photovoltaic systems the United States Department of Energy (DOE) has created the International Solar Decathlon competition [1] that challenges 20 university teams to design and build the most energy efficient solar powered 800 ft2 home. The teams transport their houses to the National Mall in Washington, DC, where the competition culminates with mea sured and subjective contests. Several passive solar design techniques can be implemented. While designs can be optimized with energy modeling software, commonly design still starts by using rules of thumb, quick calculations for the preliminary design phase to estimate proper sizing and placement of passive solar features. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of rules of thumb by comparing how well the houses conformed to the rules with actual data collected during the competition.