Passive, active and hybrid solar
Solar buildings work on three principles:
collection, storage and distribution of the
sun’s energy.
A passive solar building makes the greatest
use possible of solar gains to reduce energy
use for heating and, possibly, cooling. By
using natural energy flows through air and
materials—radiation, conduction,
absorptance and natural convection.
A passive building emphasizes passive
energy flows in heating and cooling. It can
optimize solar heat gain in direct heat gain
systems, in which windows are the
collectors and interior materials are the
heat storage media.
The principle can also be applied to water
or air solar heaters that use natural
convection to thermosiphon for heat
storage without pumps or fans