House position and structure

Well, our ancestors already knew it. It probably took them few centuries to develop that knowledge, but they have been using natural environment, site location and the building structure to keep heat in the winter and to keep cool in the summer. Scandinavians probably concentrated more on the heat in the winter and the Mediterranean concentrated more on the cooling in the summer. Only in the last century this old knowledge became suddenly less important as we have had enough energy supply not to worry too much about loss of energy.

So, when you build your house, what should you look out for?

• the house should be oriented to block the cold winds
• the wall to block the cold winds should be the most thick and have the highest insulation
• the roof should be oriented so that solar panels get the most sun.

The windows should be situated to allow as much daylight in as possible, but not too much direct sun. For this you can make use of trees, overhangs, porches etc. to block the direct sun. The trees are very efficient as their leaves will block the sun in the summer, but in winter they will allow more sun in, as the trees will lose their leaves in the winter.