Energy Efficient Home Design - The Basics

Good house design takes its form in part fromlow-energy techniques took on new, exciting
the forces that act on it. Climate and weather areforms. Suddenly there was something else out
two of the strongest form-makers (there are nothere beside Old World inspired design. It was a
igloos in the tropics) since houses must befun time full of invention and experimentation.
designed and built to repel the damaging effectsBut that era was short-lived. By the mid-1980s
of the world we live in. Mother Nature is alwaysfuel was cheap again and energy-efficient unique
trying to tear our buildings down.home design was all but forgotten.
Climate and weather also affect the comfort ofBack To The Future
our homes, and cause us to seek out ways toSo it's no surprise that we now find ourselves
maintain the temperature and humidity of ourhaving come full circle, with rising energy prices
homes within tolerable levels. A great deal ofand a revised interest in home energy efficiency.
design effort is devoted to keeping the heat in orIt's a critical concern in a time when some studies
keeping the heat out, depending on the climateshow residential buildings consuming up to 21% of
and season.the nation's energy.
This Old HouseToday's home energy efficient strategies are
At times throughout American history, the formsdifferent than they were 30 years ago, however.
of our homes have reflected - to greater orToday the focus is on technology rather than on
lesser extents - our ingenuity in making ourdesign. New materials are techniques have been
homes' internal climates more comfortable.developed that make otherwise climate-insensitive
Settlers in the Deep South built deep porcheshome designs (and there are plenty) better
around their low-slung homes to shade them fromstewards of the energy they need to maintain
the harsh sun and to create a reservoir of coolerhuman comfort.
air that could be drawn into the house.Technical solutions can be expensive, however,
New Englanders built compact homes with smallsince they demand that common building materials
windows to shield them from winter winds and toperform at a higher level. Windows have
hold in as much heat as possible. And prairie"high-tech" glass with low-emissivity coatings,
homes, often built of stacked sod, wereArgon gas-filled spaces, and up to three sheets of
half-buried in the earth to even out theglazing. Heating systems are running at higher
temperature swings and to protect them fromefficiencies, and may come equipped with
the frequent violent storms that sweep the plainsprogrammable thermostats and insulated
each summer.ductwork. Solutions like these do conserve energy
Simple and effective strategies like these wereand are important components in any home but
necessary because fuel for heating homes wasthe technology crutch shouldn't be leaned on too
limited. We created houses that conservedheavily. We also need better design.
resources; we didn't know how not to.Designer's Challenge
That changed with the era of cheap and plentifulWhat if, instead of spending hundreds of additional
electricity and natural gas for home heating, anddollars on high-tech glazing to keep the sun's heat
with the introduction of the first air conditionersout, we more carefully located our windows to
for private homes in 1928. Suddenly, houses didn'tavoid direct sunlight in the first place? What if we
need to respond to their environment; any homeused elements of the house itself to shade those
could easily be kept as warm or as cool aswindows from heat radiation and UV rays?
desired using mechanical means regardless of theSuppose we took better advantage of the
weather outside. Little thought was given toground's relatively stable temperature to stabilize
energy conservation strategies until the earlythe temperatures in our houses, rather than
1970s, when the cheap energy we'd taken forexposing every square foot of a home's exterior
granted became suddenly very expensive, andsurface to the elements? Instead of constant
the climate-ignorant houses we'd built for decadesmechanical air conditioning to remove heat and
became expensive to heat and cool.humidity, why not try opening windows onto
That 70's Showshady porches and let the breeze cool the house?
But then a very cool thing happened. ArchitectsAnd what if we opened our minds a bit - stopped
and builders across the country began to revivethinking so much about fashion and resale value -
the "lost art" of designing homes that respondedand allowed the forms of our houses to be
to climate and weather. Ancient ideas likeshaped more by how they respond to the climate
earth-sheltering and thermal massing were usedand the environment we live in?
again. New passive-cooling strategies and uniqueThe surprising result might be interesting and
ideas like the Trombe wall were invented.beautiful homes that cost very little to heat and
And most interestingly, the houses usingcool - just like the old days.