Solar greenhouses
The purpose of Low-Cost Sunroom is to show how anyone
who is of average handiness with simple tools can construct a
durable, well-insulated eight-by-eight-foot solar greenhouse. First,
there are a few simple facts concerning the sun and heat retention
(insulation) that the greenhouse builder must keep in mind. For a
more complete coverage of the following subjects, The Passive
Solar Energy Book, by Edward Mazria, is recommended as a basic
primer.
The word “solar” in solar greenhouse means that
the greenhouse is designed to do three things an ordinary greenhouse
cannot do. The purpose of most older greenhouses was to let in
adequate light to grow plants in winter and spring and to protect
the plants from direct contact with the elements. The old greenhouse
had to have a heat source to keep soil and air temperatures warm
enough to grow plants. The solar greenhouse (1) uses the sun as its
main heat source, (2) is well-enough insulated that it does not lose
too much heat overnight, and (3) has a system of storing and
releasing heat obtained from the sun.
To see the complete plans for this greenhouse, download the diagrams in this pdf file. Then learn to build it with the 99 cent ebook Low-Cost Sunroom.
| This post is part of our Low-Cost Sunroom lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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