Orientation to make use of Environmental Services
What is Orientation?
Orientation in home design is the process of intentionally placing certain features of the house in particular locations to take into account the relative position of the sun throughout the year.
How does Orientation reduce energy consumption in North Texas? Orientation seeks to utilize the sun for warmth during cold months and create shade for cooling during warm months. In this way it reduces energy consumption and offers the associated ecological benefits of lower carbon emissions [1]. |
How does Orientation work? The alignment of the house with the cardinal directions affects how much surface area of the house is exposed to direct sunlight at any given time. This in turn impacts how much a given part of the house heats up due to absorption of solar energy throughout the day. In the northern hemisphere the sun travels in the southern part of the sky. Therefore, if one wants to maximize the amount of direct sunlight available to heat the home in the winter months, the broadest side of the house should face south [17]. |