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About Passive Solar Heated Buildings

Passive solar heated buildings are designed to maximize heat gain from the sun in winter and provide thermal comfort with no active heating systems. Ladakh experiences 300 sunny days per year making it well suited for passive solar heating. Passive design features like orientation, thermal mass, insulation, and minimizing air leakage allow buildings to naturally heat and cool. Several organizations have been promoting passive solar heated buildings in Ladakh which studies have shown provide superior thermal performance compared to conventionally heated buildings, with the capital costs recovered within 4-11 years due to fuel savings. These buildings also reduce carbon emissions and black carbon compared to fossil fuel heated alternatives.

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78 views5 pages

About Passive Solar Heated Buildings

Passive solar heated buildings are designed to maximize heat gain from the sun in winter and provide thermal comfort with no active heating systems. Ladakh experiences 300 sunny days per year making it well suited for passive solar heating. Passive design features like orientation, thermal mass, insulation, and minimizing air leakage allow buildings to naturally heat and cool. Several organizations have been promoting passive solar heated buildings in Ladakh which studies have shown provide superior thermal performance compared to conventionally heated buildings, with the capital costs recovered within 4-11 years due to fuel savings. These buildings also reduce carbon emissions and black carbon compared to fossil fuel heated alternatives.

Uploaded by

KatRamana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Passive Solar Heated Buildings

Ladakh benefits from 300 intense sunny days per year. It is possible to use the energy from the sun
complimented with passive design features to eradicate the need of any active heating. Therefore,
passive solar heating of buildings becomes a regenerative solution going beyond sustainability and
hence an appropriate solution for the extremely fragile climate of Ladakh. These buildings also
remail naturally cool in the summer. Several non-governmental organisations in the region have
been actively promoting passive solar heated (PSH) buildings for the last 40 years now.

Concept
Passive solar heated buildings are designed so that sunlight enters the building and is absorbed as
heat by the building’s mass. A properly designed passive solar house gets heat from the sun in
winter and stays warm evenly from day to night. In summer, as the path of the sun is overhead, it
does not overheat the building and it stays naturally cool. In Ladakh there is strong sun in winter
most days, so passive solar heating is more effective here than in other cold regions which are
cloudy also.

PSH Buildings follow a very simple rule. To obtain a comfortable temperature inside the building, we
need to maximise solar heat gain in winter, ensure heat storage within the building elements, and
reduce heat loss.

Five inter-related strategies work together to keep passive solar houses warm naturally during the
winter.

a. Increase Heat Gain:


1. Collect and absorb maximum amount of solar radiation during the day through
solar south orientation, avoiding near and far obstruction to sun;

b. Heat Storage and Release:


2. Store the heat collected during the day in the building envelope through high
thermal mass;
3. Release this heat into the interior of the building during the night; optimisation
of thermal mass is required to ensure

c. Reduce Heat Loss:


4. Insulate the building envelope and and avoid thermal bridges to retain heat
inside the building;
5. Prevent Air-leakage through infiltration, supply fresh air to the occupants,
only as much as needed.

Working Principle
With sunrise, the Trombe Wall along with the air between the wall and the glazing starts heating up due
to black-surface absorption and the greenhouse effect. The windows from the Trombe Wall into the
rooms are opened on clear, bright winter days and the warm air rises and rushes into the hall, heating it.
The cold, denser air from the hall takes its place. Thus, a convective loop is maintained, which warms up
the entire mass of the internal walls. Furthermore, direct sunlight enters the room and strikes the floor in
winter, further warming the room via direct gain. The Trombe Wall gets heated up during the day and
ensures more than enough heat stored for nights or a few subsequent cloudy days.
In the evening, the windows are closed. This restricts heat loss to the outside via the Trombe wall and
glazing. With the ambient temperature of the room’s air falling, the internal mass starts releasing the
stored heat which maintains the room’s temperature until late night.
Operation
Effective operation of a passive solar heated house is just as important as its design. Herein we present
the operation methodology of the house in winter and summer to ensure occupant thermal comfort.
Winter Operation
A passive solar heated building acts as a thermal battery. Hence, it is important to charge all the heat
storing components of the building before and during winter. The charging is achieved by opening the
windows in the Trombe wall and all the doors inside the house on bright sunny days. The convective loop
of air slowly heats up the internal mass, charging it. The doors and windows are closed just before sunset.
This provides insulative cover at night and restrict the heat outflow from the wall. These measures ensure
thermal comfort of the occupant for cold nights and often store enough heat for 2 or 3 cloudy days to
follow, even in the peak winter season. However, care must be taken to ensure that the vent in the north
wall remains closed and leak-proof.
Summer Operation
In summer, the sun is overhead, but as the roof is well insulated over heating will not happen. However,
the following features have been introduced to give the occupants greater control over the internal
temperature in the summer season, if needed.

 External windows in the Trombe wall glazing:


These can be opened/closed during day or night as per the occupant’s comfort, to reduce chances of
overheating.

 External windows on the eastern facades:


These allow cross-ventilation within the house to remove excess heat, if any. This again is operated by
the occupant based on their comfort perceptions.

 Reversed operation of doors and windows:


The operation of the external windows can be reversed in summer. The windows are opened at night to
let the cold air in. These measures remove the warmth of the day by storing the cold of the nights and
thus help in achieving thermal comfort of the occupant even on warm days. Often the vents on the north
are kept open in the peak summer season.

Performance of PSH Buildings in Phyang


Daily Average Temperatures
The graph below summarises the buildings’ performance for the peak winter. Phyang PSH Buildings’
minimums did not fall below 15 °C. While the heated room of the conventional building fell to as low as 2
°C and the non-heated room in the same conventional building was at a consistent temperature of -4 °C
when the outside were as low as -15 °C.

Figure1: PSH vs Non-PSH Building Room Air Temperature in Jan 2021

Daily Evening Temperature


The minimum temperature data are generally misrepresentative of people’s comfort as they occur at
early hours of the morning like 6 or 7 am when people are comfortably tucked in their blankets. Hence,
we compared the evening temperatures of the Residential buildings. As evening is the time when people
occupy the living spaces with their friends and families and a comfortable temperature is required in the
common spaces.

In January ’21, the PSH buildings stayed between 16 to 25 °C at 8 pm. The heated room in the
conventional building stayed at around 15 °C on all days. The day when it was not heated full time, the
temperature of the room dropped down to 7 °C. The non-heated room was consistently below freezing
temperatures.
Figure: 8 PM temperature of PSH vs Non PSH Buildings in Jan 2021

PSH vs Conventional Office Buildings


We compared three office spaces: a Phyang PSH Office with a government PSH office room (with back-up
heating) and a government conventionally heated, non-PSH office room. We found that the non-PSH
office had building design and properties that didn’t suit the regional climate and rapidly lost heat.
Similarly, the temperatures were very low on a Holiday. The PSH offices showed better temperatures at
all days.

The data shows that the nonPSH Office is heated using kerosene-fueled space heater on workdays to up
to 30 °C. The building drastically loses heat and drops down to almost freezing temperature once the
heater is switched off.

Figure: Comparison of PSH with Non-PSH Office Buildings

Payback and Cost (Capex) Recovery Analysis of PSH Buildings


The extra cost of constructing a PSH building over a conventional building is within 0-2 years. However,
the entire capital cost of making the PSH Building can be recovered by just the amount of fuel saved from
burning in 11 years in Leh and as low as 4 years in other forward locations in Ladakh. In other words, a
PSH building renders itself free in 11 years in Leh and around 4 years in other colder areas for the owner.
Environmental Benefits of PSH Building
Besides monetary benefits, the PSH Buildings mitigate huge amounts of CO2 emission and reduces Black-
Carbon induced Glacial-Melting. Our calculations show that a fully PSH building mitigates around 10-40
tonnes of CO2 emissions per 100 sqm based upon its location.

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