solar-heat-collection-thermal-mass / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Materials in a home that act as thermal mass are things like concrete, masonry, ceramic tiles, even a large volume of wood like timber frames. All materials inside the insulated building envelope will store and release heat, the more dense they are the more pronounced the effects are.  Intentionally adding greater amou...

What is a thermal battery? Thermal mass of any kind can by definition be called a thermal battery, as it has the ability to store heat. In the context of a house, that means dense materials like bricks, masonry and concrete. Even a jug of water sitting in a sunny window is a thermal battery of sorts as it captures and ...

What is a solar thermal collector? A photovoltaic (PV) solar collector converts solar radiation into electricity, but a solar thermal collector is much simpler than that. It refers to a device that collects heat directly from solar radiation. That can be as simple and rudimentary as water being pumped through a black t...

  Solar thermal panels in cold climates are at risk of freezing in winter, so in the North, we use a glycol mix as a heat transfer fluid. This prevents panels from freezing but introduces new problems in the summer months when they are at risk of overheating.  There are two main types of residential solar thermal heate...

The commercial construction sector has warmly embraced cross-laminated timber (CLT) in recent years, taking advantage of it as the base structure, but also as a design feature. The assembly of smaller wood parts to create massive assemblies offers a new type of structure (for floors, walls and roofs), with significant ...

  Hempcrete walls: a homeowner's and pro's guide More people all the time are looking for more healthy and eco-friendly building materials that are sustainable, resilient and non-toxic. Hemp is one such material. It took a very long time for hemp to take its rightful place in the home bulding industry, due to nothing m...

Is an insulated slab on grade the best foundation choice? Or is a basement better? Traditionally, home construction often starts with a concrete basement foundation - But is that the best choice?  The first factors to consider when designing the foundation system for a home are lot size and soil conditions. When space ...

Thermal bridges cause heat loss, thermal breaks stop heat loss It is easy to look at the R value rating of a material and assume that our entire wall assembly matches it uniformly. But when you factor in the thermal bridges caused by framing materials and any discontinuities in the wall structure, you can also quickly ...

Have you ever noticed that at times you can feel cold in your home even though the air temperature is exactly where you like to keep it? That's because, contrary to what most of us think, air temperature is not the main factor that determines human comfort in a building. To illustrate a point, let's start outdoors. I m...

Thermal mass in homes: a homeowner's and pro's guide The term 'thermal mass' is often used to describe what for practical purposes, could be called a 'thermal battery', as dense and heavy materials in homes absorb and release heat. Including significant mass inside the conditioned space of a home (materials such as sto...

If a masonry heater is the refined, commercially installed option for thermal mass heating, the Rocket Mass Heater (RMH) is its radical, ultra-efficient cousin often found in the permaculture and natural building movements. There is nothing to stop anyone from putting rocket stove in a more modern home, as a technolog...