Passive solar house in Skillman, NJ: Case study

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20050773

Kendig, J

This study traces the history of a single family residence in Skillman, NJ designed by Harrison Fraker. The house, built in 1978, was conceived as primarily passive solar house intended to rely on solar energy for most of its heating needs. Solar features include direct gain windows, water walls and sunspace. The study documents original solar features, identifies changes over time and evaluates performance of the house. The owners have removed movable insulation and significantly reduced the amount of thermal mass over the life of the building. The owner reported comfort level changes intuitively consistent with those modifications. The owner is contemplating further changes to make the house more marketable, changes likely to further alter the remaining passive solar features. Builders Guide software was used to calculate changes in solar performance of the house related to building modifications. Calculations of solar performance generally correspond to anecdotal information from the owner. The author's attempts with Energy 10 program showed some promise, but are as yet inconclusive. At this time BG appears to be more useful and user friendly to the average practitioner with limited time and design resources. As a practicing architect the author is most interested in lessons to be learned from the past as they might contribute to future projects. Information gleaned from this study did confirm intuitively expected and currently disseminated thinking regarding passive solar design. The thermal mass proved to be vulnerable to change. Features which required daily manual adjustment were quickly discarded. Desire for comfort was driving force in changing the house and took precedence over the need to save energy or money.

• Research Organization: AIA Architect, Princeton, NJ (US)
• OSTI ID: 20050773
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
DESIGN
HOUSES
MODIFICATIONS
NEW JERSEY
PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE
SOLAR ARCHITECTURE
THERMAL COMFORT
THERMAL MASS
WINDOWS