Shortwave & Longwave Radiation Exhibits
Living with Sun and Weather
People build houses to provide shelter from the elements. To maintain comfort and security, our houses must moderate the effects of sun and weather. The more careful we are at building our shelters, the less energy we use for both heating and cooling.
Orienting buildings in certain known relationships to the direction of the sun helps us maximize shade in summer and early fall, keep warm in winter and early spring. By constructing roof overhangs and porches, placing windows carefully, and by using shading devices such as awnings, trellises and landscaping, we can maximize comfort, save energy and provide for the most enjoyable use of our homes.
Proper building orientation and shading can reduce a home's total energy use by as much as 25%.
In a typical subdivision, as many as 75% of the homes are oriented incorrectly.
Each tree you plant consumes about 13lb of CO2 a year at maturity. If 100,000 people plant trees this year, by the year 2010 mroe than 1 million lb. of CO2 will be absorbed annually by those trees.