The solar chimney

With the new Zero Energy House finally going in for planning meant that the hundreds of hours researching possible green technologies to incorporate into the design have been reviewed, researched, priced and filed. For one reason or another most technologies researched wont make it to the new house design but this one did. The solar chimney.

The use of a solar chimney may benefit natural ventilation and passive cooling strategies of the building and so helping reduce energy uses, CO₂ emissions and pollution in general.
Introducing a solar chimney to our design benefits from the stack effect with natural cool air being pulled through the building, something that before was only thought possible in the West by means of Air-conditioning / Mechanical extracts.

With this design feature now in place does mean that the bulk of electricity we produce through our photovoltaic panels will contribute in reducing drastically the houses zero energy figures.

Anyway, came across this while i was researching solar chimneys. Here’s a Solar tower. Works on the same principals using the stack effect to create a constant flow of air so powerful it can spin turbines night and day.

Zero Energy House

The Zero Balance Energy House is finally off the drawing board and into planning.

Here’s a small taster before i get the complete design concept posted up.

How close can we currently get to producing Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB’s)?

Pretty close today, but at what cost. Certainly not feasible for the most of us thats for sure. But Zero Balancing figures through a calendar year could be becoming possible, Even a 60-80% reduction in your annual running cost would be impressive.

So I’m gonna find out how close we can get to a Zero Energy House and to what price it will cost.

Proposed South Elevation

Proposed Ground floor Plan showing Landscaping detail
Plenty on at the moment but fingers crossed the story will be posted soon