Author Description

Architectural integration was a rapidly maturing area of solar technology when federal funding was abruptly shut off in the early 1980s. This book clearly chronicles the exciting development of the variety of approaches that were explored and describes those that succeeded and which are being used today. Solar Building Architecture, provides a useful summary of the successes and failures of both federally sponsored and private efforts to use solar technology in conjunction with the design of individual buildings and with overall urban planning. In particular, it focuses on a road not taken - the integration of solar techniques into the planning of communities. Following a general overview, Solar Building Architecture, looks at the effect of solar thinking on site planning for individual buildings and communities. It covers the challenges in using natural energy systems in building design, including such areas as building envelopes, thermal energy storage, and thermal energy distribution in building interiors. It also discusses the integration of natural energy techniques into the overall design of smaller, envelope-dominated buildings and larger, interior load-dominated structures. Bruce Anderson is an energy and environmental consultant and publisher. Solar Building Architecture is volume 9 in the series Solar Heat Technologies: Fundamentals and Applications, edited by Charles A. Bankston.