Passive cooling / Discussions

...cooling infrastructure, but don't underestimate the advantages of including thermal mass in homes for energy efficiency. We were hopeful that phase change drywall with wax beads would make more of an impact in the green home building community than it has just yet, so if you or anyone knows of any new PCM materials on ...

...passive heating and cooling solutions that we can recommend once the house is already built unfortunately. The only thing I could think of would unfortunately be on the outside, and that would be to reflect heat so it isn’t absorbed in the first place, either something metallic, or white paint. But if it’s a not a sing...

...cooling dominated climate, and make your house airtight. Airtightness plays a crucial role in energy efficiency, reducing heat loss and improving indoor air quality. How airtightness affects energy performance in Passive House and Net Zero homes is an important factor to consider when designing a resilient and self-suf...

...passive heat gain, so you want the highest R-value windows possible to reduce heat loss.  And remember that maximising your southern exposure for passive heat gain needs to include a passive cooling strategy such as overhangs or sun shades to prevent overheating in summer or you'll be spinning your wheels and spending ...

...cooling advanced enough to be a viable, cost effective option for an average 2300 sq ft residential house? Hydronic radiant cooling can be done, but we would strongly advise against doing it in a humid climate. So we're not the ones to check in on about pricing since we aren't advocates of it as a technique to cool a h...

...cooling sensation. Here is a short video on ceiling fans, they are an integral part of the heating and cooling strategy of our Edelweiss demonstration house. 

Earlier posts regarding the Kenogami House talked about using a phase change thermal battery, to avoid overheating during sunny winter days that provided too much passive solar heat. How well did that experiment work at collecting excess heat?   It was also mentioned using the radiant hydronic floor, moving purposely h...