SET Proceedings 2978-4387 Caravel Press 10.65582/set.2005.062 2005.062 Quantifying the Benefits of Solar Design HollandR. GillottM. School of the Built Environment, The University of Nottingham, England 23092005 4 1 978-7-112-07718-2 273 279 23 September 2005 © 2005 Copyright WSSET 2005

It is generally considered by eco-designers that the optimum orientation for a domestic dwelling in a cold temperate climate in the northern hemisphere is with the most heavily glazed façade facing within 30° of south, so that the rooms on that side of the house can make the maximum use of passive solar gain during the heating season. Analysis has been undertaken to quantify the situation for an actual dwelling built in 2004 in Sheffield, England, which features a heavily glazed rear elevation that looks 30° west of north. Eco-designers might expect this to be one of the worst performing orientations for passive solar heating, and so the performance of the design has been evaluated for each of the cardinal and inter-cardinal orientations under three criteria: natural daylighting performance; total solar insolation received and transmitted; and total fabric heat loss for the glazing design. The results are presented in scientific units and also in terms more familiar to UK house-building decision makers; those of BRE EcoPoints and a dwelling's SAP energy rating. Comparison is then made between the predictions of the computational and SAP methodologies, and what the results mean for the eco-designer.

 daylighting solar gain orientation SAP 23 to 25 September 2005 4th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies SET2005 4 Jinan, China Pilkington Activ™ Commercial Brochure. Accessed on 17/06/05 from: http://www.pilkington.com Crisp VHC, Littlefair PJ. 1984 “Average daylight factor prediction”, Proceedings CIBSE National Conference 1984, University of Cambridge. CIBSE, London. Dr A.Marsh, C. Raines, “Ecotect v5.20”. Accessed on 17/06/05 from: http://www.squ1.com Chartered Institute for Building Service Engineers, 1999. “Daylighting and Window Design”, Lighting Guide LG10. CIBSE, London. Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, Energy Efficiency Best Practice Program,1998. DETR Good Practice Guide 245: “Desktop Guide to Daylighting – for Architects”. Building Research Establishment, Garston, 2004. EcoHomes – The Environmental Rating for Homes: The Guidance 2005, Issue 1. ParTake Services Limited. The Home Information Pack (aka Home Seller’s Pack) – Information Resource. Accessed on 17/06/05: http://www.home-information-pack.net/ Building Research Establishment, Garston, 2004. The Government’s Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings, 2005 Edition, Draft Version 9.80. Accessed on 10/07/05 from: http://projects.bre.co.uk/sap2005/ Calculated using location specific sunset and sunrise times accessed on 17/06/05 from: http://www.sunrisesunset.com