- Beyond Sustainability - The Case for Regenerative Design
- Understanding Place - Climate, Site, and Solar Geometry
- The Six Integrated Systems - An Overview
- Building with the Earth—Natural Materials
- Passive Solar Design - Heating and Cooling Without Machines
- Off-Grid Energy Systems - Power from the Sun
- Water - Catching, Storing, and Cycling
- Liquid Waste Treatment - Botanical Systems
- Food Systems—Buildings That Feed
- Community Design - Scaling Up
- The Integrated Design Process
- Appendix A: Glossary of Key Terms
- Appendix B: The Pangea Textbook Series
- Appendix C: Key Design Principles at a Glance
- The Regenerative Community Vision
- Site Assessment and Land Reading
- Land Use Law and Legal Frameworks
- Master Planning for Regenerative Communities
- Infrastructure Systems Integration
- Housing Typologies and Density Design
- Community Governance Structures
- Economic Models for Community Development
- Phased Development Strategy
- Community Resilience and Long-Term Stewardship
- Appendix A: Legal Entity Comparison Chart
- Appendix B: Community Design Checklist
- Appendix C: Glossary of Community Development Terms
The sun is the primary energy source for every passive solar building. Understanding how the sun moves through the sky at your latitude is essential for designing a building that captures its energy in winter and rejects it in summer. The sun’s position in the sky at any given time and location can be described by two angles: altitude (the angle above the horizon) and azimuth (the compass direction of the sun). These angles change throughout the day as the earth rotates, and throughout the year as the earth orbits the sun. In the northern hemisphere, the sun is always in the southern sky — it rises in the south-east, reaches its highest point due south at solar noon, and sets in the south-west. In summer, the sun rises high in the sky and the solar day is long. In winter, the sun follows a lower arc, rising and setting…