The Hawkweed Passive Solar House Book

From houses to fire stations to an entire town center, The Hawkweed Group has designed more than 300 passive solar-heated units in a region with one of the severest climates in the United States—the Midwest. In this informative book, the Hawkweed architects dispel the three most common misconceptions about solar heating—that it costs too much ("The cost is the same as for conventional construction"), that the technology is not available or is too complex ("Passive solar heating has been warming human dwellings for centuries, and the technology is the simplest imaginable, since the building itself is the heating system"), and that it isn't suitable for cold climates ("In our work, the sun typically satisfies 80% to 90% of our space heating requirements, even in the northern Midwest"). Using more than 100 photographs and line drawings, the authors show you how to analyze the climate in your area and design a house that meets its demands—no matter where you live; how to add a passive solar system to heat, cool, light, or provide hot water for your present or future home; and step-by-step, how to build your solar house with the aid of an architect, with a builder, or by yourself. The book closes with advice from Hawkweed's city planner, Sydney Wright, on how you can encourage your town or city to incorporate solar heating and cooling into new and existing buildings, to help to create "Our Solar Future." Examples of this bright future are given from a recent Hawkweed project: the rebuilding of an entire town center — grocery store, community center, town hall, and medical building — that had to relocate off a flood plain in southwestern Wisconsin.