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The Food and Heat Producing Solar Greenhouse: Design, Construction, Operation By Rick Fisher, Bill Yanda

First, a definition is in order because there is some confusion created by the term '' solar greenhouse.'' The confusion is understandable because all greenhouses are, in fact, solar. However, traditionally designed greenhouses have rarely been concerned with the most effective use of the sun's energy. Those described in this book are. We have incorporated four basic elements in the design and operation of each of our greenhouses:

1. The most efficient collection of solar energy.

2. The storage of solar energy.

3. The reduction of heat loss during and following collection periods.

4. Zone layout for the particular light and temperature requirements of various plants.

Attention to these elements produces the following benefits:

1. Surplus thermal energy produced in winter can be used immediately in an adjoining structure

or stored for later use.

2. Independence from mechanical heating and cooling devices powered by fossil fuel.

3. Fresh food and colorful flowers left through the winter.

This book, the designs and the benefits derived from it, all come from a basic concern with people's relationship to their environment. One basic environmental problem is centered around misuse of energy. * We realized that while many people wish for alternative systems, me success of such systems is dependent on the individual's commitment to the system coupled with an understanding of what makes it work. And we want you to know exactly what's involved in building and maintaining your own solar unit.

In the following pages, we've shown methods that can be used to make an appreciable addition to the quality of your life through a closer involvement with your food chain (fresher and cheaper vegetables), a free source of partial heating for your house, a more realistic integration with the cycles of the sun, the seasons and the weather, and independence from corporate energy and food games. Whether or not you actually build a greenhouse depends on many factors: space, economics, appropriateness to your location, and determination, to name a few. But even if you don't build, reading this book will enlarge your understanding of your environment and your relationship with it.

This book grew out of the Solar Sustenance Project begun in 1974. It was a modest demonstration project to determine if attached greenhouses could supplement homes in eleven high-elevation locations in the Rockies with fresh food and heat throughout long and cold winters. The work has evolved into an educational process that has worldwide relevance. The solar greenhouse is unique in that it can satisfy two basic human needs, food and shelter. With other beneficial side effects, such as water conservation and distillation, the potential for greenhouse application is just beginning to be understood.

When we began the project, many engineers and architects insisted that our simple greenhouses wouldn't lengthen the growing season even a week. We were told by others that the 90-degree heat produced by the units was virtually useless. Fortunately, we didn't listen to them. Balancing the negativism of the cynics, we had the support of many people in the field: Keith Haggard and Peter Van Dresser of Santa Fe, T. A. Lawand of the Brace Institute in Quebec, Dr. Francis Wessling of the University of New Mexico, and several of the people mentioned in Chapter VIII. Now, competent professionals from all over the world are eagerly exploring the solar greenhouse field, and their expertise will certainly advance the state of the art.

An important aspect of solar greenhouses is that the principles of design can be applied at any economic level. The $7.00 recycled lumber and polyethylene greenhouse slapped to the south side of adilapidated dwelling can be just as important and valid a solar application as a $200,000 new solar greenhome under construction in a nearby resort community. We*ve tried to show the whole range of greenhouses in this book and let you make the decision about where you want to jump in.

Our work on the project and on this book is founded on two principles: the first is that food production should be a low-energy process. The process is begun by growing as much as you can at home, avoiding anything requiring more units of energy to produce than it contains. For that reason, highly controlled, close tolerance food production techniques relying on outside energy sources to maintain them are not stressed here.

The second principle is that greenhouses and other habitable structures should be designed to make maximum use of natural energy flow and to make minimum use of fossil fuels. This means designing a "passive" structure with proper orientation, thermal mass and good insulation. This is not a new idea, but it is being re-examined today in the light of present technological capabilities. While a passive structure delivers obvious benefits, it also demands more thought, design work, labor and care in building.

In many ways the passively designed structure is in direct opposition to the current American mode of living. It's not temporary by nature. The structure itself has a "thermal momentum" that is much like the physiological processes of a human body, charging and discharging, inhaling and exhaling. Most importantly, a well-designed passive structure doesn't depend on a constant supply of energy to keep it livable. The building uses the sun as the earth does, only better.

Since our initial work was done, thousands of passive solar greenhouses have been built. Recent computer simulation studies and advanced technical reports have shown these to be feasible in any climate that has heating needs and some winter sunlight to capture and store. We'd like to think that the first edition of our book did a great deal to stimulate scientific interest in and examination of the potential of solar greenhouses. Weknow from experience that this book has been widely applied. Itisauser'sbook;youwho buy it will most likely be building a greenhouse or solar application shortly. Depending on where you live, you may need to increase the performance of your unit through modifications in design or addition of more sophisticated heat collection and storage systems. For those to whom this applies, we've presented a wide range of such improvements in Chapters IV, V and VIII.

The solar greenhouse field has been blessed with many innovators who are also superb teachers and lecturers. The calm confidence of Doug Balcomb, the lucidity of Susan Nichols, the aesthetic impeccability

of David Wright, the humor and directness of Jack Park, the patient explanations of Doug Taft, and the work of many other talented individuals has done far more to promote solar usage than any government feasibility studies or private advertising campaigns. People like these have contributed immeasurably to the growing use of solar energy.

When you decide to build and operate a solar greenhouse of your own, you will be joining a group of experimenters in what is still an infant science. You do not need to be a scientist to participate. All the principles involved are elementary and logical. Their simplicity makes the benefits derived from becoming an active member of the solar community easily accessible to you.

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