Analyzing a Building’s Thermal-Load Pattern

Analyzing a building’s thermal-load pattern is a vital component in designing a passive solar building.

This requires matching the time and pattern of the sun so that the sun will provide a significant amount of daylighting and heat to a building as well as meeting the building’s cooling needs during the time of year when this is important. By understanding thermal-load patterns architects and engineers will be able to determine which passive solar design strategies will be most effective for the homes as well as commercial buildings. Analyzing a commercial building’s thermal-load pattern can be extremely difficult as they often have very complicated heating, cooling, and lighting demands, however, it is not impossible. For this reason, many architects, and engineers relay on computer analysis to analyze a building’s thermal-load and design strategies to guarantee maximum efficiency.

Commercial building that uses passive solar energy maximizes sunlight not only as a lighting source but also as a heating source. However, even this can be difficult at times, as both lighting and heating needs require different designs. Passive solar heating benefits more from sunlight directly striking dark surfaces, whereas the most effective solar lighting can be achieved by having the sunlight gently diffused over large areas of light surfaces. Therefore to achieve both, requires not only an understanding but also the ability to coordinate daylighting, passive design, electric lighting, and mechanical heating.

One method of accomplishing this is to ensure that the correct glazings are on windows and doors that are within 15 degrees of true south. Overheating and glare often occurs when direct sunlight penetrates into a building, often through improperly glazed windows. Direct-gain can create overheating in full sunlight as well as intense glare as full sunlight is often much brighter than indoor lighting. Rooms and areas where people work or stay for more than a couple of minutes, such as offices and break rooms should not use direct gain systems. However, areas such as lobbies, and atria where people are passing through and not gathering are perfect areas for direct gain systems.

Commercial buildings that utilize passive solar energy should also be designed to incorporate a sufficient amount of thermal mass. This will contribute to the heating requirements as well as the cooling requirements for the building.

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