Design a house with the goal to limit its heating and cooling costs

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: Student answers should state that large windows should face south, allowing sunshine to penetrate the home in winter. To block out excess sunlight during the summer, a small eave or overhang should be built. A kitchen with windows facing east will let in enough warm morning sunlight to help heat this area. Because the west side warms rapidly in the afternoon, rooms having small windows (such as garages) can be placed here to act as a thermal buffer. Deciduous trees planted on the west or south side of a home provide shade in the summer. In winter, they drop their leaves, allowing the winter sunshine to warm the house. If you like the bedroom slightly cooler than the rest of the home, face it toward the north. Let nature help with the heating and air conditioning. Proper house design, orientation, and landscaping can help cut the demand for electricity, as well as for natural gas and fossil fuels, which are rapidly being depleted. From our reading of the last several sections, it should be apparent that, when solar heating a home, proper roof angle is important in capturing much of the winter Sun's energy.?