Attached-sunspace designs: A nationwide economic appraisal

Conference · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Alternative Energy Sources; (United States)

OSTI ID:7146378

Roach, F; Kirschner, C

Performance estimates for attached-sunspace passive solar heated residences have recently been incorporated into the LASL/UNM EASE III model. These estimates are used to analyze the economic performance of a fixed dimension sunspace design when attached to a pre-existing single family residential unit. The sunspace is a passive design which can be easily and effectively adapted to a retrofit situation. Several key parameters are carefully evaluated for the sunspace retrofit design. These include loan or mortgage terms, ownership period, resale potential and competing conventional fuel prices. General economic and design parameters are combined in a variant of life cycle costing to evaluate the feasibility of both owner-built and contractor-built attached sunspaces for 220 regions in the contiguous United States. This evaluation is made for two conventional fuel types--natural gas and electric resistance--and for three resale values--0%, 100%, and 200%. Results show that the prospect for conventional fuel displacement through retrofit of attached sunspaces is very good with the design's economic performance enhanced in regions with expensive conventional fuel alternatives.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
• OSTI ID: 7146378
• Report Number(s): CONF-801210-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Alternative Energy Sources; (United States) Journal Volume: 8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140901* -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Space Heating & Cooling
ATTACHED GREENHOUSES
BUILDINGS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
DESIGN
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
EVALUATION
GREENHOUSES
HEATING SYSTEMS
HOUSES
PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
RETROFITTING
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING SYSTEMS