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David A. Bainbridge

confidence: high volatility: cold verified: 2026-08-10fresh

David A. Bainbridge (b. 1948, Schenectady, NY) — ecologist, passive-solar practitioner, and author. Founded the Passive Solar Institute. Member of the Living Systems design group in Davis, CA with Jonathan Hammond, Ken Haggard, and Polly Cooper. Author of 'A Water Wall Solar Design Manual' (1981) and co-author of 'The Straw Bale House' (1994). Distinguished Professor at Alliant International University (retired 2010). ASES Passive Solar Pioneer Award 2004.

David A. Bainbridge (b. 1948, Schenectady, NY) is an ecologist, passive-solar practitioner, and author. BA in Earth Sciences (UCSD, 1970), MS in Ecology (UC Davis). After graduate school he founded an environmental impact analysis company, then joined the Living Systems design group in Davis, California, working on community design with Jonathan Hammond, Ken Haggard, and Polly Cooper. (Bainbridge’s manual presents Living Systems as part of Baer’s circle of influence; Baer’s 2009 AIA slideshow credits “Living Systems Design” to Jonathon Hammond of Winters, CA — the Hammond to whom the manual’s 2005 edition is dedicated.)

He went on to work as a solar specialist at the California Energy Commission and founded the Passive Solar Institute — correcting an earlier unverified claim in this archive that Ken Haggard co-founded it. (Haggard founded the separate Renewable Energy Institute at Cal Poly.)

Water wall practice

Built the first water-wall home at the Village Homes subdivision in Davis, CA (mid-1970s) — a rectangular steel tank for thermal mass. Author of A Water Wall Solar Design Manual (1981; reissued 2005 covering the first four chapters), a practitioner’s guide and history of water-wall thermal mass in passive solar buildings. Also published The First Passive Solar Catalog (1978). Credits Baer’s 1971/72 Corrales house as the catalyzing event for a broader wave of 1970s-80s water-wall practitioners, several of whom — Timothy Maloney, Ken Haggard, Polly Cooper — are otherwise thinly documented elsewhere in this archive. See Evolution of the thermal vision for how this fits the broader arc.

Straw bale and sustainability

Started straw bale building research in 1985. Co-authored The Straw Bale House (1994, Chelsea Green; 125,000+ copies sold). Conducted desert restoration research at UC Riverside and SDSU (1986-2001); his desert restoration guide is a standard reference.

Academic career

Professor at Alliant International University from 1995, retired as Distinguished Professor in May 2010. Launched the “Bright Green MBA” program there. Academic metrics: 3,226 citations, h-index 26, 300+ papers. Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge (Harvard physicist and director of the Manhattan Project Trinity test) was a family member.

Recognition and later work

Received the American Solar Energy Society’s Passive Solar Pioneer Award in 2004 — the award that prompted him to revisit and reissue the water-wall manual in 2005. Inducted into the Earth Repair Hall of Fame in 2022. Co-authored two books with Ken Haggard: Passive Solar Architecture: Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Daylighting and More Using Natural Flows, and the Passive Solar Architecture Pocket Reference (with Haggard and Rachel Aljilani). Lives in San Diego; still active as of 2026, teaching via HeatSpring and publishing.

See also