At Energy Rating Perth we urge our clients to incorporate solar passive design into their homes so that full advantage can be taken of the sun in the winters to avoid costs from heating your home. The following steps can be taken prior to the building design or to renovate a new home that may be subject to poor solar access:

  1. Reduce thermal mass by using lightweight construction such a timber framing. If the preference is using brickwork or block walls, a plasterboard layer should be included towards the internal side to ensure the bricks don’t absorb the heat back from the interior at night.
  2. Since the building is overshadowed, it may not be able to take advantage of solar gains during the day, which is why the glazing area should be minimised to reduce heat exchange through the glass.
  3. Reduce overhangs and eaves width to allow maximum sunlight/heat penetration
  4. Use double glazed or low-e glass for the windows
  5. Ensure the window frames are either thermally broken/insulated or use timber/UPVC frames instead.
  6. Ensure that all walls, roof and ceiling are well insulated and that the insulation is installed properly to avoid air infiltration or condensation.
  7. Install underfloor insulation to avoid the cooling effect from the thermal mass in case of a concrete slab or from the air circulation underneath the floor in case of suspended timber floor.

 

If your home is in a mixed climate i.e. required both cooling and heating throughout the year, you might need to be careful with implementing these steps to ensure that you do not have too much solar penetration during the summers. This can be carried out by understanding the solar access path for your home. For that, you can contact any of our energy assessors at Energy Rating Perth for further information.