"The writing of this book was undertaken at the request of the Committee on religious education of the General assembly of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America."--Pref.

Passive and active solar strategies together with the adoption of energy conservation measures and the integration of new materials and technologies can lead to a dramatic reduction of 75-90 per cent in the energy consumption of the buildings. The objective of Task 13 of the IEA's Solar Heating and Cooling Programme was to advance solar building technologies and demonstrate this potential by designing and constructing buildings that met very low energy consumption targets while maintaining a good indoor climate. This revised second edition of this book presents the findings of the Task 13 experts and includes the results of the monitoring programme, conducted to determine the effectives of the techniques and strategies adopted. This new edition also provides a detailed explanation of this research programme in terms of how far the expectations of the Task experts were met and highlights the specific successes and lessons learned from the project.

Life is usually peaceful in Buford, Alabama-especially for Elba Rae Van Oaks. She teaches school, attends church, and typically leaves the drama to others. But when Elba Rae's mother takes her last breath, Elba Rae must reunite with the only person in the world with whom she has absolutely nothing in common-her sister, Lila. As Elba Rae busily prepares for her mother's funeral, the last thing she has time to deal with is a sister who wants to butt into the otherwise orderly execution of making arrangements. But even though the two women have happily avoided each other for years, Lila's already on her way. As Elba Rae begins placing calls, making lists, and deciding on musical selections, she has no idea that when Lila arrives, she will be as close to coming undone as Elba Rae has ever seen her. Both women are about to find out what happens when avoidance is no longer an option, when ignoring their history is nearly impossible, and when death may be the least of their worries. "Hastings shares the hilarious antics of a family of characters from rural Alabama ... wonderful tales similar to the ones heard at family reunions ..." -Linda Harris, New 50 Magazine

Active solar systems for air heating are a straightforward yet effective way of using solar energy for space heating and tempering ventilation air. They offer some unique advantages over solar water systems, can offer improved comfort and fuller use of solar gains than passive solar systems and are a natural fit with mechanically ventilated buildings. They can be economical, with short pay-back periods and can act not only as space heating or ventilation air heating but also for water pre-heating, sunshading, electricity generation (with hybrid photovoltaic systems) and can help induce cooling. This design handbook takes architects and building engineers through the process of designing and selecting an active solar system from the six types presented, optimizing the system using nomograms and curves, and finally dimensioning the components of the system. Tips are offered regarding the construction and how to avoid problems. The book will provide essential design information for all architects, building engineers and other building design professionals and all those concerned to reduce the environmental impact of buildings.