Dear RAIN, . . The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) has started on a fairly comprehensive program of research and development into passive solar heating systems. This activity is sponsored by ERDA. We will be monitoring the performance of several solar-heated buildings ·of the passive type and also of some passive solar-heated test cell units which we have built here at Los Alamos. We will also attempt to validate our computer models of systems against the results taken from these various . observations..We will then use the computer simulations to determine the relative importance of various design factors on the performance ofthe system in · different climates throughout the United States. There is tremendous interest in our program and I am pesieged by individuals who wduld like to have us monitor their passive systems.. It is great to see that this approach fo solar heating is beginning to take off. . · · I am tremendously enthusiastic about the prospects for these passive h~ating concepts. The intriguing thing about these systems .is not only that they are architecturally more compatible with normal building practices and aesthetically more pleasing, or that they should be lower in cost than active systems, · btit that they apparently work so well. .Not only do they work well, but they appear to work relatively well in. crummy climates with a great amount of diffuse solar energy where <~;ctive systems can hardly perform effectively. That is because a passive system is always work- . ing. The passive system collects every bit of energy, d.irect or diffuse, that comes through the glazing. An active system has a threshold and does not begin to work until a certain temperature is achieved. This largely compensates for the fact that energy losses in the passive system are undoubtedly greater than they are in an active system. I also feel that with the design practices we will eventually find that passive solar heating systems can be made perhaps even more comfortable for the occupants of the building than active systems. Sincerely. yours, J. Douglas Balcomh , Mail Stop 571 Los Alamos Scientific Lab Los Alamos, NM 87545 Solar G1lide & Calc~lator, bv Edward Mazria and David Winitzky,•1976, 11 pp., $3from: Center for Environmental Research School of Architecture University of Or.egon Eugene, OR 97403 Graphically explains where and how the sun works in relation to a building and site, and provides the user with a simplified method of calculating sun angles am~ ·the available heat energy from the sun on vertical and horizontal surfaces. Ask to be notified when the complete direct"'sol.ar workbook is available. The following companies supply solar hot water storage tanks: (LJ) Heliotrope General 3731 Kenora Drive Spring Valley, CA 92077 714/460-3930 Rheem Mfg. Co. Water Heater Div.. 7600 South Ke.dzie Ave. Chicago, IL 60652 Wood Industrial Products Cq. · 100 Washington St. Conshohocken, PA 19428 215/828-0800 Solar Safety Shower Vruve, write: "Hot-Stop" Valves· Delta Faucet Co. Greenburg, IN 47240 Instead of a.mixing valve or tempering tank to prevent the scalding of solar shower users, this valve turns on the _cold water first and then adds more and more hot water until a set limit is reached. The temperature .limit can only be overridden by depressing the HotStop.Button, which pops up again when the water is turned off, ready for the next bather. (LJ) Catch the Wind: A Book of Windmills .and Windpower, by Landt Dennis, 114 pp., 1976, $7.95 from: Four Wind Press Scholastic Magazines, Inc. so· w. 44th st. New York, NY 10036 An excellent intro to wind energy for both adults and children, covering how October 1976 RAIN Page 17 the wind gets all that kine·tic energy, the early history of windmills, windpower in the U.S., the rest of the world and prospects for its adoytion as a major power source. Footnotes, appendix of research, manufacturing and marketing companies' addresses, bibliography and index. For elementary, high school libraries or·gift-giving. (LJ) Swedish Wind Power Potential Report, August 1976, for availability and price, write: · · SIP Swedish-International ~ess Bureau Skeppargatan 3 7 S-114 52 Stockholm, Sweden Windpower could account for at least 20%, 30 terawatt~hours out of an estimated 150 TWH, of Sweden's total electricity production by 1990, according to a report just published by the Swedish Meterological and Hydrological Institute. Sweden's long coastline (like the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific seaboards) makes her well placed to utilize wind energy, the report adds. Tell SIP they reported this on pg. 3 of their Aug. 18, 1976, news releases. (LJ) AWEA Wind Energy Conference & Exposition, Oct. 21-24, 1976, $30 for all four days, $~0 for one day, $5 for one workshop. For info and registration, write: Amer. Wind Energy Assoc. '76 Conference . North Wind Power Co. Box 315 Warren,.VT 05674 802/496-2955 Workshops on siting, aerodynamics, financing, home-building; participants include Windworks, Ameralt, Helion, Zephyr, Enertech, Natural Power; Kedco, Windpower Digest; speakers include Divone (ERDA), Savino (NASA), Heronemus (U. Mass), Eldridge (MITRE), Meyer (WINDWORKS), and Jack Park of Helion will construct, from scratch, a working KEDCO wind generator of his own design. This looks so good Lee Johnson of RAIN/ECOTOPE GROUP _is going to try to attend. See you there! (LJ)
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