September comfort and cost report
As the days and nights become warmer, less mechanical heating is required to assist passive solar heating (plus insulation) to maintain a comfortable temperature indoors. Increased solar power exports and decreased grid imports reduced the energy bill to 50c per day.
August comfort and cost report
In August, our high performance home maintained a comfortable indoor temperature within the target range of 18 to 21oC. The month’s energy bill was $47 or approximately $1.50 per day, ...
July comfort and cost report
Analysing the temperature monitoring and electricity consumption data for July is an opportunity to review the comfort and cost of living in a passive solar, all-electric home.
Winter sunshine benefits
A few cold, but sunny, days allowed our home to show off what it can do with sunlight. Light streaming through the large north facing windows quickly warmed the house in daytime. Solar panels produced more than enough electricity to supply our all-electric home's needs.
Import power test run
A run of cold, cloudy days was the ideal opportunity to program the SolarEdge inverter to import offpeak power to charge the battery at night. Without this option, I would have paid peak power rates for electricity the next day when solar production wasn't able to meet household demand.
Living with thermal mass
Learning how to help the passive solar design features keep us warm in Winter is a useful exercise. Sunlight is all we need on clear, cold days. When it's cloudy, we use the heat pump to stop the concrete slab thermal mass cooling too much.
Passive solar and Passivhaus
While discussing sustainable home design with others, I realised the word "passive" mu;st be used carefully. Passive solar design is different to Passive House design. It's important to understand the differences and similarities.
Testing outdoor versus indoor temperature
While the indoor temperature felt comfortable during hot summer days, I was left with the nagging feeling that wishful thinking was keeping me cool. Passive solar design should minimise the need for mechanical cooling for everything but a run of very hot days. Temperature monitoring data confirmed this is the case for our design.
Gentle art of natural air circulation
Imagine it’s the end of a baking hot summer’s day, perhaps one of those 45 degree plus crackers. The home’s insulation, thermal mass and shade did a fantastic job keeping ...
