Solar Heating and Cooling?

Question

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada and I need to try something to cool off my house without using the air conditioner too much. Bills are sky high for this region due to excessive heat (it gets as high as 117 degrees!) and right now outside it's 110! I want to purchase a solar type solution or build one if I can find the right info to do it. I just want to use "Big Daddy Sun" to help out on cooling my house now and heating it in the winter. Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, it's "Big Daddy Sun" glaring at you that is making your house hot.  Your cheapest and most cost-effective ways of reducing your AC needs are actually pretty low-tech.

Start by reflecting back as much sun as you can before it ever gets inside to heat up the house.  Cover bedroom windows with aluminum foil, shiny side out.  You can either cut corregated cardboard to fit the windows and cover the cardboard so that you can easily place and remove the "sunshades" or you can apply the foil directly to the windows and then cut fine lacy patterns in the foil with an exacto knife to let in a little light and throw fancy patterns around the room.   Just this idea alone will reduce your room temperatures significantly.

Next look in your attic.  Chances are in Nevada you have only about 6" of insulation.  Go down to Lowes or Home Depot and buy yourself enough bags of loose insulation to give you at least 12" - 16" of insulation.  Spread it out over the existing insulation taking care not to block the air vents in the soffits (the part of the roof that hangs outside of your walls).  Ideally, the soffits should be made of perforated aluminum panels that provide "continuous" ventilation.

Now look up.  That hot air needs to get out of your attic.  Some houses have a continuous vent along the peak of the roof.  If yours does not, go back to Home Depot and get yourself at least two "turbine" ventilators.  These babies work with the slightest breeze and pull the hot air up and out of the attic.  There are some electric, thermostatically controlled fans available for this purpose and they work well in applications where there just isn't enough breeze during the hot parts of the day.

You can also help protect your home from the heat by planting some fast growing trees on the south and west sides of the house and by planting vines that will grow up the walls of the house.  Lush green plants can cool your home by 15 degrees because they cool the house not only by providing shade, but by using up heat to evaporate soil moisture, thereby actually removing heat from the air around your house walls.

Indoor houseplants can also have the same effect.

Now, a little "heat management".  Since you're in the desert, I assume it cools down between midnight and 6 am.  At that time, get windows open on opposite sides of the house to cool the place down.  First thing in the morning though, shut those windows and draw the shades.  Keep your cool air in.

Check around your doors that the weather stripping is in good shape and replace it if it is not.  That precious cool air will escape if it can.

By the way, that added insulation in your attic will help to keep your heating costs down in winter as well.

Using these techniques we are able to avoid use of the AC most of the time except on the hottest and most humid summer days in SW Florida.

Good luck

Answer 2

http://www.cogeneration.net/Solar_Heatin...

The cost if installation would be something of concern, but the benifits could be great.