Solar Greenhouses
Attached Solar Greenhouse
A solar greenhouse attached to the south side of a house can reduce heating bills, add a sunny area to escape from long, bleak winters and also extend the growing season for edible plant products like hot house tomatoes. This kind of addition is called a retrofit.
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Build It Solar- DIY Greenhouse Design (Very Highly Recommended Site!)
There are some conflicts between using an attached greenhouse for space heating, and using it for plant growing. For maximum space heating of the attached house, the greenhouse space should have little thermal mass in order to provide a maximum of heat to the house during the sunny period. A low thermal mass greenhouse of this type will not be suitable for growing plants year round in cold climates, as the night time temperatures will go below freezing -- however, it may still be useful for extending the plant growing season. On the other hand, greenhouses intended for growing plants year round need more thermal mass to keep their heat overnight, and will have less heat to transfer to an attached house. The Andrew Shapiro book listed above, provides very good detail on these tradeoffs for various climates -- highly recommended.
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Illinois Solar Energy Assn: Solar Greenhouse Fact Sheet
Solar greenhouses are useful sunspace for people who are interested in saving energy and producing some of their own food.
Greenhouse construction and operation is simple, and when attached to an existing building or residence, solar greenhouses are one of the most cost effective solar systems currently available.
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Solar Greenhouses For Developing Countries
We are all familiar with the conventional greenhouse; a building or structure with glass or plastic windows used to facilitate the growing of plants. Solar greenhouses differ from conventional greenhouses by their ability to store solar energy for times when there is little or no sunlight. This is done in a variety of ways depending on the function of the greenhouse. Our interest is in 'passive' solar greenhouses and particularly, pit greenhouses. These buildings harvest, store and deliver energy without the use of external energy, hence their low cost.
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