Green & Natural- Living Naturally in a High Tech World
People can get more out of life if they occasionally stop and smell the daisys, right? The Earth has been around for a long time, and takes care of its passengers quite well. It is usually big enough to provide its passengers with the ability to go elsewhere if the climate is not right for a passenger. And it even experiences changes on a predictable timetable...at least until recently.
It's nice to Sun Bathe, though risky. It's also nice to sit under a nice big cool shade tree. If the weather on any given day isn't exactly warm enough, just add some clothes. If too hot, take some off (within limits, of course.)
You can help your house to do the same thing and usually, other a bit of required physical effort, it is low cost or no cost, and will actually improve your home's resale value and strengthen your muscle tone to boot!
In the Northern Hemisphere the Sun is generally to the South of us. If you are "Down Under" swap the words (North and South). There is nothing more natural than the Sun of course, and it is a nothing more than a thermonuclear bomb doing its thing (fusing two Hydrogen atoms into one Helium atom) for about 20 billion years give or take a few days. And this bomb is currently a nice safe distance away, about 94 million miles, so instant death is not a problem for at least another 5 billion years, again, give or take a few years (as a Sun ages it gets bigger and will eventualy become the size of the orbit of Earth, which will have long before exploded). The largest warming affect of this bomb is felt by objects that are perpendicular to the direction that the Sun seems to be coming from. And the coolest affect occurs when the rays are at the most acute angle to the direction of the Sun.
Even prehistoric man knew this so he found a cave that faced North if he wanted to be cool and another cave that faced South if he wanted to be warmer. How about that? Prehistoric man was just an early version of the "snowbirds" that travel in their RV between Denver and Phoenix. But if we think about it for a minute, there is really no need to spend all that gasolene or diesel fuel, just site your "cave" correctly in the first place. If your "cave" is closer to the North where the Sun rays come in at the lowest angle, let the most rays come into your "cave" that you can reasonably achieve. Make the side facing the Sun the longest dimension of your "cave" and the the side facing away well shielded from the Sun. Simple enough to do. Find a location where the nicest view is to the South & the West, and the garage area and bedrooms which are normally cooler should be on the North & East side of the building. If your "cave" is more to the South and cooling will be your biggest need, then find a location where the nicest view is to the North and the East and run the longest dimension of the "cave" facing the East which will be at least cooler in the morning hours.
Always locate the kitchen where it will be the coolest since it is self warming. Locate the garage so that it is a buffer from either the heat or cold that you do not wish to have around. Select your site so that your best view is opposite the intended garage location. Educate the land rapers ( AKA developers) that if the location has a view, have all the buildings face the view. They always site half the houses facing the wrong way!
Trees should be an integral part of your site. Well, most of the time, anyway. In the Northern Hemisphere, plant deciduous trees (leaf bearing like maples, aspens, oaks, etc) on the South side, and Fir trees on the North side. The deciduous trees will drop their leaves in the Winter and let the Sun come in, and provide shading from the Sun's heat in the Summer. Then make sure you crop the branches below about 10' from the ground. Summer winds are genrally lower velocity than Winter winds. The lower velocity Summer winds will vector beneath the branches into the 10' high channel and provide a cooling breeze for the house. The higher velocity Winter winds will dam up and plug the 10' high channel, resulting in them being launched over your house instead of slamming against it and chilling it every Winter. You will also have an area to meditate on the beauty of God's creation, because when trees are pruned like this they look like a well manicured State Park. Also, you won't bop your head on overhead branches when walking around the back yard with the pooch. Plant or cut your forest so that your trees are no closer than about 15' apart to 25' apart and your healthy and grateful trees will suck in all that nasty old CO2 you blow out and rewarding you with some nice Oxygen that your body craves. Such a deal.
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