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Passive Solar Architecture: Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Daylighting and More Using Natural Flows by David Bainbridge and
Ken Haggard, 2011.
New buildings can be designed to be solar oriented, naturally heated and cooled, naturally lit and ventilated, and made with renewable, sustainable materials - no matter the location or climate. Bainbridge and Haggard draw upon examples from their own experiences, as well as those of others, of more than three decades to offer both overarching principles as well as the details and formulas needed to successfully design a more comfortable, healthy, and secure place in which to live, laugh, dance, and be comfortable. Even if the power goes off. Passive Solar Architecture also discusses "greener" and more-sustainable building materials and how to use them, and explores the historical roots of green design that have made possible buildings that produce more energy and other resources than they use. Fully illustrated with many diagrams and photographs, Passive Solar Architecture is an invaluable resource to anyone who wants to undertake a sustainable building project, from planning and design, to building, remodeling, and operating the completed building.
You can read a more complete review of this book by Kelly Hart.
  Creating My Green Roof by
Dave Hilary, an instantly downloadable, fully illustrated eBook (PDF). You'll learn: How to decide which type of green roof is right for your home; How to calculate the approximate costs of your green roof, and how long it will take to break even against your lower heating and cooling costs; Which parts of green roof construction you can save money on by doing yourself; How to find, hire, and get the most from contractors and green roof service providers; How to select the right plants for your green roof; Which areas you absolutely must get outside help with to prevent costly and dangerous mistakes; A time-saving 'cheatsheet' on maintenance and irrigation requirements by green roof type; The time of year to begin installing your green roof for best results.
This eBook is designed for homeowners who are not necessarily the "do it yourself" type, but who want to arm themselves with information as they go into discussions with green roof service providers. This eBook is jam packed with tips from interviews with professional contractors and engineers to help you quickly get up to speed on all aspects of green roof planning, creation and maintenance. Print as needed - The downloadable eBook format allows you to print of as many copies as you need for those helping you, or none at all if you are looking to save cash and paper. Click here to visit Green Roof Plan.
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Small Green Roofs: Low-Tech Options for Greener Living by Edmund C. Snodgrass, Nigel Dunnett, Dusty Gedge, John Little, 2011. In this book the authors profile ordinary homeowners who scaled green roofs down to the domestic level. More than forty profiles of small and domestic-scale projects of all shapes and sizes include green roofs on sheds, garden offices, studios, garages, houses, bicycle sheds, and other small structures, as well as several community projects. For each project, details are given for design, construction, and installation, as well as how-to tips on how the roof was planted and cared for. For readers looking for inspiration when hiring a contractor or taking the adventurous step of building their own, Small Green Roofs provides the knowledge and encouragement to make it possible.
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Australian Earth-Covered & Green Roof Buildings by S. Baggs, J. Baggs, D. Baggs, 2005 (includes DVD-ROM).
Dr Sydney Baggs was and David Baggs is one of Australia's leading authorities in earth covered and green roof building design and construction. As architects to nearly 40 earth covered and green roof buildings including residences, schools and museum they pioneered this work in Australia from 1979 to current time holding the first International Conference on Earth Covered Buildings in Sydney Australia in 1981. With numerous awards, magazine and television features the pair created a high profile for earth covered and green roof buildings during this period. While Sydney passed away in 2009, David continues designing, promoting and consulting in this specialist field to green buildings of all kinds.
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The Green Roof Manual: A Professional Guide to Design, Installation, and Maintenance by Edmund C. Snodgrass, Linda McIntyre, 2010.
This book provides an overview of practices and techniques that have been effective in North America. The authors offer options regarding structure, function, horticulture, and logistics, as well as surveys of actual projects and analyses of why they have or haven't succeeded. Approachable and reader-friendly, the manual clearly explains how these complex systems function and how to plan and carry out projects successfully from concept through construction and maintenance. Ideally suited to professionals (including architects, landscape architects, engineers, and designers) and their clients, it brings together key lessons from leaders in the field. Numerous photographs highlight the range of design possibilities and show green roofs both during construction and at various stages of maturity.
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Award Winning Green Roof Designs by Steven Peck, 2008.
Over 100 beautiful, informative photos display the green roofs technology that is quickly becoming a fundamental element of the emerging practice of living architecture. The award-winning roof designs displayed and described, for private homes, businesses, and public spaces alike, integrate natural and artificial systems, resulting in healthier, more sustainable buildings and communities. Green roofs have the capacity to deliver multiple public and private benefits. The projects depicted and discussed cover a wide geographic range from Manitoba to Florida, stretching from the mid-Atlantic coast to the Pacific. The projects are almost exclusively the product of multi-disciplinary, collaborative design processes. Details about the plants used, growing media, drainage and irrigation systems, and waterproofing, along with descriptions of challenges overcome, and innovations developed, are provided.
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Green Roof Systems : A Guide to the Planning, Design and Construction of Building Over Structure by Susan Weiler, Katrin Scholz-Barth, 2009.
This book goes beyond the fashionable green roof movement and provides solid information on building accessible space, often as important public space, over structure. It offers brief coverage of the entire process, including planning and collaboration, and focuses on the technical aspects of these roof systems, their components, and their applications.
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Earth-Sheltered Houses [Kindle Edition] by Natan Snider,
There are many advantages to earth-sheltered construction. An earth-sheltered home is less susceptible to the impact of extreme outdoor air temperatures, so you won't feel the effects of adverse weather as much as in a conventional house. Temperatures inside the house are more stable than in conventional homes, and with less temperature variability, interior rooms seem more comfortable. Because earth covers part or all of their exterior, earth-sheltered houses require less outside maintenance, such as painting and cleaning gutters. Constructing a house that is dug into the earth or surrounded by earth builds in some natural soundproofing. Plans for most earth-sheltered houses "blend" the building into the landscape more harmoniously than a conventional home. Finally, earth-sheltered houses can cost less to insure because their design offers extra protection against high winds, hailstorms, and natural disasters such as tornados and hurricanes.
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Earth sheltering: Burdei, Basement, Dugout (shelter), Ground-coupled heat exchanger, Earth house, Earthship, Green roof, Passive house, Passive solar, ... Underground living, Grubenhaus, Earth lodge by Frederic P. Miller, Agnes F. Vandome, John McBrewster, 2009.
Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature. Earth sheltering is popular in modern times among advocates of passive solar and sustainable architecture, but has been around for nearly as long as humans have been constructing their own shelter.
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ClimateSkin: Building-skin Concepts that Can Do More with Less Energy by Gerhard Hausladen, Michael de Saldanha, and Petra Liedl, 2008.
The facade plays a critical role in the conception of energy- and climate-optimized buildings: it is the building's skin and functions as an interface between interior and exterior space. It provides thermal and sound insulation and ventilation, and controls and guides the entrance of daylight into the building. Climate Skin offers concrete planning advice for architects and engineers who wish to exploit not only the architectural potential of facades but also their energy and climate-control possibilities, treating the building envelope as an essential component within a complete climate-control and technology solution. It provides a solid foundation of knowledge that equips the reader to make competent technical and economic evaluations of building envelopes. For everyone concerned with facades, Climate Skin is a comprehensive planning handbook and reference work that covers all of the relevant technical and physical aspects of the design and detailed planning of energy-efficient facades.
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Natural Ventilation in Buildings - A Design Handbook by Francis Allard and Mat Santamouris, 1998.
A how-to book on ventilating buildings naturally. Approaches can be high-tech or low-tech, but always need to be part of an integrated design approach. A range of technical issues, such as building codes, fire regulations, and acoustics, also need to be taken into account. This new handbook describes the real potential of natural ventilation, its appropriate use, the design and dimensioning methodologies, the need for an integrated design approach, and how to overcome barriers. Includes a CD with software to assist in the calculation of airflow rate in natural ventilation configurations. This book is based on the work of 25 experts from all parts of Europe who have collected, evaluated, and developed the material under the auspices of the European Commission's Solar energy and Energy Conservation R&D programs. This books provides essential design information for all architects, building engineers, and other building design professionals.
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The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book, by Mike Oehler, 2000.
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The Earth Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book by Mike Oehler, 2007. The author writes, "my secret is that on the south wall of the greenhouse I dig a pit down eight feet and build a walkway up four or five feet where I can walk and bend over the growing beds to work on the plants. The pit allows cold winter air to flow downward to be heated by the earth rather than lying on the plants. On flat land I'd sink my north wall and all the grow areas about four foot deep and pile the earth up on the north side leaving at least a foot of north wall exposed for ventilation "windows" that can be opened as needed. I'd put some rigid foam insulation over that mound of earth on the north and a layer of polyethylene to keep it dry and some inches of earth to protect the poly from the sun. That north mound will serve as a heat sink then, to radiate heat back into the greenhouse at night." A complete review of this book by Kelly Hart can be read here.
undergroundhousing.com This links to information about Mike's book and videos, presented by the publisher. |
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The Earth-Sheltered House: An Architect's Sketchbook by Malcolm Wells, 2009. The author's perspective on design and the building process is based on millennia of use of earth-sheltered homes by animals and humans, using the earth to keep warm in winter and cool in summer. His imaginative architectural drawings, sketches, and design plans are surrounded by his handwritten commentary about Earth-friendly building and design, cryptic remarks and humorous asides that make this book a pleasure to browse or read. He offers a breathtaking assortment of some of the most creative and unusual home and building designs ever assembled. Some are fully underground structures, some partially earth-sheltered, but all make the best use of light sources, designed to benefit from the sun and seasonal changes, and to protect or restore the natural habitat around and above them.
Wells's work is revolutionary, but readers will find his message to be pure common sense. Earth sheltering offers superior comfort with minimal energy input, and it is adaptable to diverse terrains as well as a variety of architectural aesthetics. |
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Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable Underground House by Rob Roy, 2006. An earth-sheltered, earth-roofed home has the least impact upon the land of all housing styles, leaving almost zero footprint on the planet. Earth-Sheltered Houses is a practical guide for those who want to build their own underground home at moderate cost. It describes the benefits of sheltering a home with earth, including the added comfort and energy efficiency from the moderating influence of the earth on the home's temperature (keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer), along with the benefits of low maintenance and the protection against fire, sound, earthquake, and storm afforded by the earth. Extra benefits from adding an earth or other living roof option include greater longevity of the roof substrate, fine aesthetics, and environmental harmony. The book covers all of the various construction techniques involved, including details on planning, excavation, footings, floor, walls, framing, roofing, waterproofing, insulation, and drainage. Specific methods appropriate for the inexperienced owner/builder are a particular focus and include: pouring one's own footings and/or floor, the use of dry-stacked (surface-bonded) concrete block walls, post-and-beam framing, plank-and-beam roofing, drainage methods and self-adhesive waterproofing membranes.
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The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City by Patrick Blanc, 2008.
Patrick Blanc, an artist with a green thumb, has created dozens of his admired botanical tapestries in public and private spaces around the world, including the Marithé & François Girbaud boutique in Manhattan; the Jean Nouvel-designed Quai Branly Museum in Paris; the aquarium in Genoa; the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. In this luscious, oversize, all-color book, he explains how to create plant walls using more than one thousand plants, drawing on his observation of natural milieus, his technique of growing on vertical surfaces, his savoir faire, and his passion for plants.
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Vertical Gardens by Anna Lambertini, 2007.
Bringing nature into urban environments has always been a challenge; one of the most spectacular solutions to this problem is the vertical garden. Far more than just an unusual decoration attached to a wall, these gardens are an exciting means of bringing life and greenery to a bleak courtyard, a gray city street or a cold modern building. Vertical Gardens is the first publication to present a collection of the most important examples of this emerging trend. Those who create vertical gardens apply the principles of hydroponics and use ingenious framing systems that allow luxuriant compositions of plant life to colonize the exteriors of buildings. The aesthetic result is truly stunning and has attracted the attention of many architects and designers. Vertical Gardens explores this phenomenon in thematic sections, which are enriched by the reflections of its most innovative practitioners. This richly illustrated book will be essential reading for all professionals or anyone interested in this fertile new area of landscape design. |
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Earth Sheltered Designs, Davis Caves Construction, 2000. Over 80 earth sheltered floor plan designs and artist's renderings, prepared by architects and engineers. Floor plans range from 670 square feet to over 7,000 square feet of residential and commercial space. |
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Climate Responsive Design: A Study of Buildings in Moderate and Hot Humid Climates by Richard Hyde, Peter Woods, 2000. The increasing interest in effective energy use in buildings and of the effect of this on human health, has generated the need to consider more carefully designing buildings with climate in mind. This book provides a unique source for those requiring guidance on climatic design. Covering theory and application, it provides examples of innovative and best practice in 'responsive architecture' through case studies. The book also covers the broader topic of technology as a generator in design which will be of interest to all those involved in design and building. The book focuses on tropical climate but some of the theory can be applied to other climates; the difference in application is clearly delineated. |
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The Barefoot Architect by Johan van Lengen, 2007. A former UN worker and prominent architect, Johan van Lengen has seen firsthand the desperate need for a "greener" approach to housing in impoverished tropical climates. This comprehensive book clearly explains every aspect of this endeavor, including design (siting, orientation, climate consideration), materials (sisal, cactus, bamboo, earth), and implementation. The author emphasizes throughout the book what is inexpensive and sustainable. Included are sections discussing urban planning, small-scale energy production, cleaning and storing drinking water, and dealing with septic waste, and all information is applied to three distinct tropical regions: humid areas, temporate areas, and desert climates. Hundreds of explanatory drawings by van Lengen allow even novice builders to get started. |
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Underground Homes, Louis Wampler, 1980. "Underground Homes" offers the layman a complete and thoughtful approach to planning, building, and inhabiting an earth-sheltered home. Author Louis Wampler takes the reader step by step through a potential maze of construction problems. He uses simple language and numerous diagrams and illustrations to answer the questions people ask most about an underground home.The book offers information and guidance on such key factors as: Planning interior and exterior design, Choosing the proper site, Insulating for maximum energy savings, Waterproofing the structure, Deciding which roof will work best on your house, and Selecting appropriate heating and cooling systems. "Underground Homes" also addresses specific problems associated with subterranean homes-- determining the local water table, reinforcing concrete with steel, and using skylights and windows. It also discusses the common psychological barriers to living underground, presenting solutions and insights into these problems.
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Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls by Nigel Dunnett, Noel Kingsbury, 2008. The latest techniques for planting roofs and walls to enhance our buildings and benefit the environment. In this comprehensively updated, fully revised edition of their authoritative reference, Nigel Dunnett and Noël Kingsbury reveal the very latest techniques, materials, and plants, and showcase some spectacular new case studies for the non-professional. Green roofs and walls reduce pollution and runoff, help insulate and reduce the maintenance needs of buildings, contribute to biodiversity, and provide habitats for wildlife. In addition to all this, they are attractive to look at and enhance the quality of life of residents. The authors describe and illustrate the practical techniques required to design, implement, and maintain a green roof or wall to the highest standards.
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Underground Buildings: More Than Meets the Eye, by Loretta Hall, 2003. Unusual as they seem, underground buildings are surprisingly common. Every day, millions in North America work, shop, dine, study, and play in the more than three hundred public and commercial structures and five thousand private homes nestled in the earth. Underground buildings are safe, attractive, useful, and comfortable places to frequent and live. Unlike a common misconception, most are dry and warm, and they are often sun-filled. More than one hundred underground buildings are included in this fascinating subterranean tour. These buildings range from the famous to the unnoticed. Some were built for pragmatic reasons, others for aesthetic considerations, still others, for a combination of both. There are impressive success stories and discouraging tales of failure. Some underground buildings are incredibly energy-efficient, for example, while others leaked so badly they were abandoned. A vast spectrum of structures is presented, ranging from stunning examples of hidden opulence to humble subterranean cubbyholes where unassuming people immerse themselves in nature’s simplicity.
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Building Green : A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods by Clarke Snell , Tim Callahan, 2006. This absolutely groundbreaking manual doesn't just talk about eco-friendly building techniques, but actually shows every step! More than 1,200 close-up photographs, along with in-depth descriptions, follow the real construction of an alternative house from site selection to the addition of final-touch interior details. Co-authors Clarke Snell and Timothy Callahan (a professional builder and contractor) provide thorough discussions of the fundamental concepts of construction, substitutes for conventional approaches, and planning a home that's not only comfortable and beautiful, but environmentally responsible. Then, they roll up their sleeves and get to work assembling a guest house that incorporates four different alternative building methods: straw bale, cob, cordwood, and modified stick frame. The images show every move: how the site is cleared, the basic structure put together, the cob wall sculpted, the bales and cordwood stacked, a living roof created, and more. Most important, the manual conveys real-world challenges and processes, and offers dozens of sidebars with invaluable advice.
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Heating or Cooling Your Building Naturally: Solar Architectural Solutions by Virginia B. Macdonald, 2006. Through an initial explanation of her principles and ten case studies, the author relates how vertical ventilation and controlled daylighting--to the exclusion of air-conditioning and daytime electric lighting--can be applied. The author explains in simple language, with photos and diagrams, how to use the sun to cool or warm a building as needed, while at the same time reducing mildew, dust, and many pathogens. The premise is simple and has been used throughout the ages in all cultures and climates: hot air rises. That's the starting point for all the ideas and designs contained in this book, taking advantage of the natural vertical flow of air to regulate the temperature of enclosed spaces. Likewise, the documented health benefits of controlled daylighting are well-known, and the projects here described make ample use of skylights (with spectrally-selective glazing) in addition to windows, so that electric lighting is seldom needed during the day.
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Stay Cool: A Design Guide for the Built Environment in Hot Climates by Holger Koch-Nielsen, 2002.
In hot dry or warm humid countries, more than half of the urban peak load of energy consumption is used to satisfy air-conditioning demands alone. Since the urbanization rate in developing countries is extreme, the pressure placed on energy resources to satisfy the future requirements of the built environment will be great, unless new, more cost-effective measures can be introduced. Stay Cool is an essential guide for planning and design using active design principles and passive means to satisfy human comfort requirements specifically in these climate zones, based on examples of traditional and modern constructions. The book demonstrates how a design strategy for urban environments and individual buildings, incorporating naturally occurring resources and specific energy-efficient technologies, can create a location, form and structure that promotes significant energy savings. Such strategies can equally be applied to low cost housing, or indeed to any other buildings, in order to improve comfort with passive means and low energy budgets.
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This earth-covered, passive solar, 1863 sq ft house achieved the very best performance in a HUD-sponsored energy survey when it was first built in the late 1970's. For three years after the house was built, it was computer-monitored, and according to the National Solar Data Network, the SunEarth house out-performed hundreds of passive solar houses in the country. The house was designed, built, and marketed by Colorado Sunworks. The furnace was put to rest during its first winter because the pilot light was wasting natural gas. All of the space heating demand is supplied by the passive solar system. 
