Isolated Gain Solar

The most common isolated gain solar energy home design is a sun space. It is also called a solar room, solarium or even greenhouse. They can be built as an addition to your existing home or as part of a new home.

Sun rooms, solariums and solar greenhouses use a combination of direct gain and indirect gain system features. Sunlight that enters the room is absorbed by the air and the thermal mass of the room.

The heat from the sunlight is then moved to the rest of the house by means of conduction through the separating wall at the rear of the room, or by vents that permit air between the room and living space to be exchanged.

Sun rooms have some advantages as an isolated gain system in that it can also provide additional usable space to the house and plants can be grown in it quite effectively.

It is important to remember that the same heat gain will happen in the summer just as it does in the winter so effective window coverings should be used during the summer to control the incoming sunlight. In other words don’t forget to pull the blinds in the summer!!

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Isolated Gain Solar Energy