PSYCHROMETRICS CHART

ASHARE Standard 55-2004

DESIGN STRATEGIES

DESIGN STRATEGY #1

Heat gain from lights, people and equipment greatly reduces eating needs so keep home tight, well insulated (to lower Balance Point tempreature).

DESIGN STRATEGY #2

Glazing should minimize conductive loss and gain (minimize U-factor) because undesired solar radiation gain has less impact on this climate.

DESIGN STRATEGY #3

For passive solar heating face the most of the glass area north to maximize winter sun exposure, but desig overhangs to fully shade in summer

COMFORTABILITY

This chart is one of the most powerful design tools in Climate Consultant.

It shows dry bulb temperature across the bottom and moisture content of the air up the side.

This vertical scale is also called absolute humidity and can be shown as the humidity ratio in pounds of water per pound of dry air (or grams of water per kilogram of dry air), or as the vapor pressure.

he curved line on the far left is the saturation line (100% Relative Humidity line) which represents the fact that at lower temperatures air can hold less moisture than at higher temperatures.

When analyzing this chart it is easy to understand that this site in Ecuador has 100% of indoor comfort, however there are still design guidelines to help ensure the right path is being kept.

DESIGN STRATEGY #4

Traditional passive homes in cool overcast cliates used low mass tightly, well insulated construction to provide rapid heat build up in morning.