UNIT ONE BEAUTY AND FUNCTION
Making use of solar energy in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dr. Balcomb published information on his family home in a Department of Energy pamphlet entitled Passive Solar Buildings: A Compilation of Data and Results. The adobe building is in a planned environmental community called First Village.
Douglas and Sara Balcomb spend their winter
evenings barefoot, in an 80% solar-heated adobe
masterpiece
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The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico—nestled against
the treeline in the cool, dry foothills of the Sangre de
Cristo Mountains—just has to be one of the best
places in this country to make use of solar energy.
Blessed with abundant sunshine—and a relatively low
latitude of 36 degrees—the capital of the "Land of
Enchantment" also has a real need for heating.
You see, although most people think of New Mexico as warm
desert country, Santa Fe—which is perched just at
the 7,000-foot line—is actually slightly cooler (on
an average) than Denver, Colorado! While Santa Feans
seldom have to suffer through more than a few consecutive
days of subfreezing daytime highs, the mercury does
plummet below zero on some winter evenings, and the
town's average annual snowfall is over three feet.
In fact, in heating energy terminology, Santa Fe has
almost 6,000 heating degree days. (This figure represents
the total number of degrees that the mean temperature
falls below 65°F during the year.) For comparison,
Denver averages about 5,700 heating degree days, and New
York nets approximately 5,250. And—just as an
extreme example—Edmonton, Alberta rings in at
almost 11,700 degree days.
It's not too surprising, then, that the hillsides above
the quaint old historical New Mexican community (it was
established around 1610) are dotted with adobe homes
equipped with a wide range of solar heating equipment.
And one of the most attractive (and successful) examples
of this combination of new-age technology and age-old
earthen home construction methods belongs to Douglas and
Sara Balcomb.
We are fortunate enough to have detailed records of the
performance of this solar-heated home, because both
Balcombs are intensely involved in solar energy. In fact,
Dr. Balcomb—who currently works in passive solar
energy research at Sandia Laboratories—has
published information on his family home in a Department
of Energy pamphlet entitled Passive Solar Buildings: A
Compilation of Data and Results (SAND 77-1204 [Revised]).
And Sara—who is vice-chairperson of the New Mexico
Solar Energy Association—takes part in the
preparation of a regular solar newsletter and various
sun-energy teaching aids (such as slide shows).
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