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Passive Solar Handbook, Volume I: Introduction to Passive Solar Concepts
Source: Steve Baer / Zomeworks archive
Publisher: United States Air Force (USAF)
Author/Contractor: Architectural Energy Corporation, Boulder, CO — Michael J. Holtz, A.I.A., President
Contract: USAF Engineering Directorate (HQ USAF/LEEDE; HQ USAF/LEEDX)
Date: c. 1985–87 (approximate — suggested reading cites 1985 ASHRAE and Mazria publications; foreword references Executive Order 12003, signed 1977)
Pages: ~85 (text pp. 1–79 + appendices)
PDF: 2.9MB, text-based
Series: 5-volume set; this is Volume I. Vol. II: Comprehensive Planning Guide; Vol. III: Programming Guide; Vol. IV: Passive Solar Design (proposed); Vol. V: Construction Inspection (proposed)
Summary
An introduction to passive solar concepts for USAF facility planners, programmers, designers, and supervisors of construction for commercial-type buildings worldwide. Written in response to MAJCOM and base needs following the oil embargo of the early 1970s and Executive Order 12003. The Air Force had used passive solar strategies since 1947 — Vol. I documents this history.
Passive solar concepts covered fall into three categories: Solar Thermal (H), Passive Cooling (C), and Daylighting (L).
The passive cooling section focuses on air-based strategies (natural ventilation, night mechanical ventilation). No mention of roof ponds, Skytherm, night-sky radiant cooling, or Zomeworks. Baer’s water-based passive cooling approach is absent from this institutional canon.
Eleven passive solar concepts covered
| Code | Concept | Type |
|---|---|---|
| DG | Direct gain without storage | Heating |
| D+S | Direct gain plus storage | Heating |
| IND | Indirect gain with storage | Heating |
| SUN | Sunspace (isolated gain with storage) | Heating |
| NMV | Night Mechanical Ventilation | Cooling |
| NVN | Natural Ventilation | Cooling |
| WIN | Windows (sidelighting) | Daylighting |
| SKY | Skylights (toplighting) | Daylighting |
| SAW | Sawtooth Apertures (toplighting) | Daylighting |
| MON | Monitor Apertures (toplighting) | Daylighting |
| ATR | Atria (core daylighting) | Daylighting |
Passive cooling strategies (pp. 10–12)
Night Mechanical Ventilation (NMV): Reduces internal mass temperature by flushing the building with cool, low-humidity night air using existing HVAC/HV fan and duct components. Mass absorbs heat during the day; night flushing resets it.
Natural Ventilation (NVN): Opening windows when outdoor temperature is below indoor. Effective primarily in spring and autumn. The Air Force recommends operable windows in commercial buildings where climatic conditions offer significant energy savings.
Both are air-based. The handbook explicitly analyzed building types and found these two strategies “most successful in the commercial-type buildings analyzed.”
Suggested additional reading (pp. 47–49)
Passive Solar Thermal
- The Passive Solar Energy Book (Expanded Professional Ed.), Edward Mazria, Rodale Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87857-238-4.
- Passive Solar Heating Analysis, ASHRAE, 1985.
- The Solar Cooling Handbook, ed. Harry Miller, Passive Cooling Workshop, Amherst MA, 1981.
- Solar Envelope Concepts: Moderate Density Building Applications, Knowles & Berry, DOE/SERI, 1980. SERI/SP-98155-1.
Buildings and Energy
- ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals, 1985.
- The Design of Energy Responsive Commercial Buildings, Ternoey, Bickle, Robbins, Busch & McCord, Wiley, 1985.
- Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies, G. Brown, Wiley, 1985.
Other Sources
- Insolation Data Manual, Knapp, Stoffel & Whitaker, DOE/SERI, 1981. SERI/SP-755-789.
- Renewable Energy Technology Handbook for Military Engineers, SERI, 1981.
- Solar Energy Dictionary, V. Hunt, Industrial Press, 1982.
No mention of Hay, Baer, Zomeworks, Skytherm, or roof ponds anywhere in the handbook.
Significance for the archive
This handbook represents the institutional mainstream of passive solar by the mid-1980s — what the federal government had canonized as “passive solar” for engineering practice. Its absence of Baer’s water-based night-sky cooling approach illustrates the adoption gap the archive documents:
- By 1985, the USAF had a 5-volume passive solar engineering handbook
- That handbook’s passive cooling section used air — not water, not night-sky radiation, not roof ponds
- Hay’s Skytherm (1967–1973) had existed for 12–18 years with no influence on this institutional document
- Baer’s Cool Cell concepts were still 15 years from their 2002 brochure
This document is evidence for why passive thermal hasn’t scaled: the dominant institutional framework defined “passive cooling” as ventilation, not radiation.