Sustainable Ramona is a local non-profit dedicated to the preservation of our surroundings. By responding to your questions each month, we intend to provide you with common-sense, affordable and short- and long-term ways to manage issues such as increasing water shortages, high heat, high electric bills and minimize waste going to landfills.
This is the first in a series of articles addressing energy-efficient buildings with a focus on residential homes, although the concepts work in any structure.
Basic principles from the past combined with new techniques lessen dependency on gas and oil. Accustomed to using fossil fuels to heat and cool homes, we have left most of these age-old concepts in the dust. With our growing awareness and with innovative solutions available, many are looking to lessen their reliance on fossil fuels and desire to get their carbon footprint down to a net zero level.
Saving money and being comfortable in extreme heat are just a few of the many benefits.
The basics are very simple: Build a new, or rework an existing home to heat and cool itself without the need for massive heating and air conditioning systems. This is somewhat easier to accomplish when building a new home from the ground up. Existing, older homes may have insufficient levels of insulation, outdated heating and cooling systems and thoughtless building orientation.
Back in the day, it just didn’t seem important since gas and electricity were not that expensive. Enter 2023, with our electric company provider being among the very highest in the entire nation and propane costs soaring, these previous methods lack cost effectiveness and efficiency.
There are two ancient principles that govern much of the energy efficiency of a house: Hot air rises. Hot water rises. Put these principles to work and you are halfway to a home that heats and cools itself.
In starting a new home, here are some important concepts:
Window placement and orientation. If you can orient several to the south, you’ll be able to capture the sun’s heat in the winter to warm your home (ive solar heating). In this climate with numerous hot days, an optimum roof overhang shades those windows in the summer when the sun is higher and collects sun rays in the winter when the sun is lower.
Study your building site carefully and figure out where the prevailing winds are. Lay out your windows for optimum air flow and circulation. Open the windows on cool summer nights and close them up as it begins to get warm in the mornings.
Use solar screens over the exterior of windows that get direct sun without the proper shading overhangs. These can block up to 85% of the sun’s heat before reaching the outside pane of glass.
Choose dual glazed windows, and triple glazed if they’re affordable. Not only do they resist more heat in summer and cold in winter, the house interior will be extremely quiet. More panes of glass mean windows will weigh more, thus are heavier to open and close. Add high operable windows to vent out hot air, in conjunction with vaulted ceilings as hot air rises. Do not use metal framed windows as metal conducts heat.
Rob Lewallen is an architectural designer and general building contractor specializing in energy efficient design and construction since the mid-1970s. He is also chairman of the Ramona Design Review Board.
