Advances in Solar Buildings

Abstract

In the autumn of 2002, 14 universities built solar houses on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in a student competition—the Solar Decathlon—demonstrating that homes can derive all the energy they need from the sun and celebrating advances in solar buildings. This paper describes recent progress in solar building technology that expands the designer’s palette and holds the potential to radically improve building energy performance. The discussion includes market conditions and solar resource data; design integration and modeling; window technology, daylighting, passive solar heating; solar water heating; solar ventilation air preheating; building-integrated photovoltaics; and solar cooling. The Solar Decathlon competition highlighted ways in which these strategies are integrated in successful solar buildings.