Masonry Magazine February 1979 Page. 40
SOLAR HOUSE
continued from page 39
Some systems also are capable of ventilating the house in summer.
The key to the successful Crosby design is its careful orientation and siting to capture the maximum amount of sunlight in winter. (Outdoor shades pull out to protect windows in summer.)
Brick surfaces used for flooring and a specially designed wall are used to retain the heat. Brick flooring soaks up the sun in a combined kitchen-family room. The dense brick is capable of absorbing large amounts of heat, which radiate back into the room slowly, helping to keep it warm even after the sun goes down.
According to the Brick Institute of America, studies have shown it can take up to eight hours for heat to move through a brick wall. Our ancestors recognized this quality long ago; they often tucked heated bricks in their beds on cold nights.
A second use of masonry in the passive solar design is a Trombe wall, named after the French scientist who developed it in the early 1960's. The Crosby's version is a double wall of brick and glass located on a south side of the house. The inner brick wall, 12 feet long by 15 feet high, is separated from the outer glass cover by an air space about 4 inches wide. Openings in the brick at the top and bottom allow air to circulate into the living room behind the wall.
Carefree brick flooring also plays a functional role. The brick soaks up the sun during the day, then radiates heat back into the room. Outdoor shades keep the sun out in summer when the added heat is not wanted.
The Trombe wall works like this: sunlight striking the wall heats the dark, rough surface of the brick. In turn, the heated brick heats the air in the space between the brick and the glass. As the heated air rises, it circulates into the living room through the openings at the top of the wall. The natural air flow draws cooler air in at the bottom to be heated.
The Crosby's house, together with other examples of passive and active solar systems, is illustrated in a 28-page brochure on solar design by the Brick Institute of America. A copy can be obtained by sending $2.00 to BIA, Old Meadow Road, McLean, Virginia 22102.
SARA Calls for Better Energy Research Dialog
The Society of American Registered Architects has called for the establishment of a joint committee of practicing professionals in the construction industry and active inventors in solar energy development as a step toward improving data communication between the two groups, and to increase consumer confidence in solar energy products.
"The public must become confident that solar energy products are workable and reliable," said SARA president Jerome Salzman. "New building product materials and construction techniques are generally introduced to consumers by the major specifiers-architects, engineers and builders. Endorsement of these construction professionals usually results in the purchase by their clients of architectural and engineering products."
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40 MASONRY/FEBRUARY, 1979