Passive Solar

A major concept I thought about when designing my building was energy efficiency. A renewable energy I took advantage of is solar. However, this solar energy does not require the use of any mechanical or electrical devices. In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. So in the winter when the sun is low one would want their windows directly facing the sun for heat to be transferred. In the summer when the sun is higher up in altitude one would want to block the sunlight entering through the windows to avoid heating.

This diagram shows the different angle of the sun during the seasons due to earth's rotational axis.

How did I apply this to my building you ask?  Well I made my walls thicker to apply more insulation so  in the summer time the cold air is being condensed to stay cool and blocked from leaving the building. In the winter time the extra thickness gives more protection from the cold air transferring into the building and hot air from coming out. Then on every floor I was able to make a roof above the window so the passive solar concept can be applied.