Thinking about Sun Position (Concept) §

Brute force building §

It seems like so many times, when we build houses, we don’t take into account the natural environment. We just build a house without any regard for where the sun is, where is there natural shade, where does the wind blow?

It seems like all old buildings fall into this problem.

Buildings and Adjusting for sun position §

When we build someday, we would like to take this all into account. Where does the sun go throughout the day? How do we account for the sun’s position throughtout different times of the year.

Can we restrict the amount of sun we get during the hot months, while benefiting from some (but not too much) sun during the cooler months?

We are not like the temperates §

A lot of the resources on solar buidings and sun position come from temperate climates. The sun in places like that- anywhere above 25 degrees latitude will entirely be on one side of the earth throughout the year.

So if you’re in the northern hemisphere, the sun will always be coming from the south whether it’s summer or it’s winter.

In the tropics. §

Here the sun doesn’t always stay to the south. It actually flips! and that makes building with the sun in mind so much trickier.

If you were on the equator (say in Singapore) then the sun would flip flop throught the year. It would be directly overhead during the March and September equinoxes. And then half the year it would be to the north, and the other half of the year it would be to the south.

Here in the Philippines, it flips too. Though not exactly half. Those flipping dates are April 29 and Aug 14. In between those dates, the sun shines high and from the north side. 107 days out of 365 That’s 30% of the year Where the sun is high above (80-90 degrees at noon)

Getting to 80 degrees on the south side §

Even though outside those dates, the sun shines from the south, Between Apr 3 to Apr 29 and Aug 14 to Sep 8 It’s still at the height of 80 to 90 degress at noon.

That’s the equivalent of the height it gets to during the summer months. That’s to say that it’s probably still hot then, though factors like rain and other weather elements can change that.

The rest is comfortable §

The rest of that I think it great. So from Sep 8 to Apr 3 You have this really pleasant time of the year. With some storms here and there.

The lowest the sun will get here is 52 degrees on the winter solstice.

How I’m dividing up the year in my head. §

So based on that, it makes sense for me to divide up the year in this way (This is entirely based on sun) (I’m not taking into account here rain and wind patterns like habagat and amihan)

Apr 29 to Aug 14 - Hot north sun Aug 14 to Sep 8 - Hot south sun Sept 8 to Apr 3 - Cool South Sun Apr 3 to Arp 29 - Hot south sun