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Faith Books23
The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling, and Designing with the Sun by Bruce Anderson; Michael Riordan (Very Good, 1976, HC, 298 pgs, Cheshire Books)
The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling, and Designing with the Sun by Bruce Anderson; Michael Riordan (Very Good, 1976, HC, 298 pgs, Cheshire Books)
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Very good condition: dust jacket has light wear; cover has light wear; pages appear to be unmarked; tight binding; foxing on page edges. ISBN 0917352025
The Solar Home Book: Heating, Cooling, and Designing with the Sun was a groundbreaking 1976 guide focused on utilizing solar energy to create environmentally conscious, energy-efficient housing. Considered a foundational text of the 1970s alternative energy movement, the book shifts the focus away from wasteful architecture toward sustainable, climate-responsive design.
- Passive Solar Design: The book heavily emphasizes "low-tech," passive solar methods. It teaches readers how to use the physical structure of a house itself to harvest energy.
- Thermal Storage: Anderson explains how to utilize dense building elements, such as thick masonry walls and concrete floors, to absorb and store the sun’s heat during the day and release it at night.
- Siting and Orientation: It outlines how to properly position windows, doors, and the house shell relative to the sun to maximize natural solar radiation in the winter and block it out during the summer.
- Insulation and Draft Proofing: The text stresses the importance of sealing a home and using proper insulation to keep managed energy from escaping
- Accessible to Lay Readers: Despite Anderson’s extensive technical background in architecture and engineering, the book translates complex thermodynamic concepts into simple language for everyday homeowners, DIY builders, and renovators. [1, 2]
- Detailed Visual Guides: The book relies heavily on architectural diagrams, charts, and illustrations to make solar engineering and airflow principles highly visual and easy to copy.
- Real-World Case Studies: Anderson includes a comprehensive look at successful, operating solar houses from the 1970s, walking the reader through how their respective space-heating and water-heating systems worked in practice
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