Solar Orientation and Exposure

What is Solar Orientation?

Solar orientation is a very important factor that is required for sustainability in the determination of alignments such as building and another same type of alignments. This will ensure suitable placements that will enhance sustainability in the use of energy in heating, cooling and also in lighting. Let's take for example, in terms of building the position of the building will either affect the sustainability and the uses of the solar power which therefore needs better and reliable positioning so that all these shortcomings can be dealt with promptly.

What is Solar Exposure?

For solar exposure, this contemplates on the angle of the sun during different seasons of the year. This will be through the angle of elevation from the sum to the buildings and the effect that they cause such as greenhouse emissions effect. The sun is at a different angle during different seasons such as during the summer sun is at high angles that during the winter and another yearly season. Therefore in the sustainability side during infrastructure, it will help in building houses in a manner that they will ensure that there is the sustainability of heating and cooling during different seasons. Under this one can get different perspectives about the sun such as the Passive daylighting where a house, for example, will be built in a manner that the house will be receiving natural lighting so that there can be effective circulation of energy and reducing the overall energy consumption to ensure sustainability. Passive solar street orientation gives the plans on how to give a structure that will respect the solar alignment leading to sustainable solar usage skills and alignment of each building giving a significant saving for sustainability.

Active solar building orientation it is very important to ensure that the houses are built in a manner that they will ensure adequate and effective collection of voltages by the devices that are used through their configuration to the sun rays. Therefore in order to ensure there is the correct sustainability of the solar, there must be enhanced ways through which photovoltaic's instruments will get the overall opportunity to get the correct measure of the sun so that it can give effective production of voltage leading to adequate power supply within.

Tables and Graphs

This can be very evidential by the look from the following tables and graphs. This is featuring a solar water heater for providing hot water system in the house for heat sustainability within the ecosystem. This is determined by the number if inhabitants situated in a particular household.

No of people in the household Area of solar collectors Volume of solar storage tank Indicative initial investment
2-3 4-6 m2 200-350 liters 3809-5,079
4-5 8-10 m2 350-600 liters 5,079-7,618
6-7 10-12 m2 600-1,000 liters 7,618-8,888


All the data is in consideration to the colorless glass where the first graph is for the energy consumption for heating annual relative solar orientation while the second is for the annual consumption for cooling energy in relation to solar orientation. The third is the grand consumption of energy in relation to solar orientation.


For sustainability of the solar energy, adequate measures need to be employed so that the heat energy from the sun can be used to subsidize various uses of the other forms of energy leading to the lowering in the cost of energy use and ensuring that there is the sustainability of the energy. The photovoltaic's require enough showroom in places where there are no shades so that they can receive the full intensity of the solar energy for storage of adequate voltages that can sustain and subsidize other types of energies.