
515© 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Passive Solar Heating, Cooling, and Daylighting
For the well-being and health … the homesteads should be airy in summer and sunny
in winter. A homestead promising these qualities will be longer than it is deep, and the
main front would face south.
—Aristotle
9.1 Introduction
Passive systems are dened, quite generally, as systems in which the thermal energy ow
is by natural means: by conduction, radiation, and natural convection. A passive heating
system is one in which the sun’s radiant energy is converted to heat upon absorption by
the building. The absorbed heat can be transferred to thermal storage by ...