Sunkit

[Daddymem]

Read through the sunkit last night and I am glad I got it.  It proved we are on the right track and we learned a few new things.  One question:  what climate category are we in New England?  As they say here "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."  I say this as the winds of a rainy Nor'Easter whips the petals off our bridal's veil and forsythia and the memory of a warm, sunny afternoon still lingers from yesterday.  But seriously, when I look down the categories I can answer yes to most of them.   It is hard for me to judge since I have been baked in the hot Georgia sun (114F) and frozen in the Alaskan tundra (-60F) in the military so now the weather here seems mild in both extremes

[John Raabe]

When you look at the suncharts for your latitude (or use the much simpler solar slide rule that comes with the Little House plans) you will note that the low sun angle and short hours of possible sunlight when combined with the percent of possible winter sunshine chart on map 2 page B1 do not bode well for full on passive solar in your climate.

Use the chart on B2 to determine your appropriate solar strategy based on the climate style - this will tell you how much insulation, what type of windows to buy and how much thermal mass to put into the house.

Then go to the "Options for Low-cost Solar" chart at B4. This will let you choose the amount of thermal mass to add to the house (hint: not too much - you don't live in New Mexico!) and then it will tell you how much south facing glass to install in order to provide heat for that thermal mass.

Sunkit link: http://www.countryplans.com/solarkit.htm

[Daddymem]

Thanks, that makes more sense now.