About
Blacktail Solar Homes have many elements that together will make them economical to operate and comfortable to live in for many years into the future. You will find most of these elements described in the links in the left sidebar. The most important element, Solar Orientation, is described as follows:
We all know that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. And most of us know that the warmest place to be out of doors on a cold winter day is on the south side of a building.
To put it simply, solar home design is based around the idea of maximizing solar heat gain when and where it’s useful (so as to offset heating requirements) and minimizing it when and where it’s a liability (so as to offset cooling requirements). This is known as passive solar design because no mechanical devices may be needed for heating and cooling, depending of course on where the home is located.
- Wide side faces south for occupant comfort
- Installed solar PV to keep electric costs down
- Web accessible whole house solar monitoring to keep track of your electric assets
- Sod lawn is in
- Easy walk to Safeway
- Clean efficient all electric heat
- Windows - South: allow heat in, West: keep heat out
- South window solar heat collectors
- Windows open to allow natural cooling
- Double sheet rock ceilings to smooth heating and cooling cycle
- Insulation: Ceiling = R50, Walls = R25
- Climate controlled crawl spaces to conserve heat
- Quality counter tops
- Cabinets: dovetail joints, soft close drawers
- All chrome faucets on sinks and showers
- Double door refrigerators with water and ice maker
- Electric flat top stove/oven
- Builtin microwave over stove
- Dish washer
- Garbage disposal in sink
- Wash machine and dryer hookups
- Waterproof vinyl plank flooring in living areas
- Shaw carpet and pads in bedrooms
- All dimmable LED lighting
- Sherwin Williams semi-gloss paint
- Dark stained pine doors and trim