Someone might ask why I call it a Greenhouse Cap when the cap doesn't go on the greenhouse and the greenhouse isn't really a greenhouse with plants. I call it that because the house itself, with green systems incorporated, is a "GREEN" house, and the glass enclosure which tops it, although looking like a greenhouse, is really like a baseball cap for your house. A baseball cap keeps your head warm in winter and shaded in summer. The Greenhouse Cap does the same for your house and more.
Then you might ask, "But how can a greenhouse and lots of big skylights keep my house warm and cool?" Here is how it works.
Not just a greenhouse on a flat roof, the revolutionary Greenhouse Cap integrates with the whole house green thermal system which can incorporate simple, economical active and passive elements such as sunroom/greenhouse, outside window shades, wrap-around porches that are deeper on east and west, glazing, coverable skylights, ducts, windscoop, thermostat-controlled plus manual over-ride vent system, airlocks, blowers, ideally connected with trombe-type above and thermal mass storage below the house, and last, but by no means least (now don't laugh)--lots of old white bedsheets or tablecloths! Why large white flexible things like sheets/tablecloths/curtains? Read on.
The impact of a Bright Idea Home has to be seen and felt. Not only does the Greenhouse Cap provide the key to mitigate traditional problems like thermal storage and loss, but it allows flexible use of all kinds of deck or curb mounted skylights,
and prevents damage due to skylight leakage. Beyond that, the
Greenhouse Cap mimics the vernacular pitched roof of your favorite home
style. It can incorporate traditional and modern at the same time.
(See: New Millenium under photo albums)
Do you know how much people crave natural light? With new glazing technologies skylights have become a must-have item. If you could prevent most heat loss or gain through skylights as well as prevent the unwanted and damaging UV radiation of direct sunlight and especially prevent water leaks,
you would make your whole roof a skylight, wouldn't you? Now you can -
almost. A whole room ceiling can be a skylight except for a narrow
perimeter walkway for seasonal skylight covering/uncovering from the
roof.
All new homes can be built this way. But what about existing homes? If it is possible for a particular flat roof home to adopt green systems, it should also have a Greenhouse Cap. Flat roof homes have less trouble adapting to the Bright Idea than pitched roof homes. Just install as many skylights as you want and Cap it. You will also need stairs or a stair ladder to the roof and an airlock at the top of the access stairs would help. If the roof serves also as a mild weather sun room the Cap's knee wall of glass can be any height and reflective or dark for privacy.
However, in addition to this building process for a flat roof home, a retrofit on a pitched roof home entails removing the pitched roof in order to exchange it for the Cap. On large homes, this would be a very costly thing to do. However, it is not mandatory by any means to change all of a large roof. An analysis could determine which part of the roof would be best to remove -considerations such as cost, stair access, orientation, shade from the rest of the roof area, areas most benefiting from skylights, etc. Perhaps just part of one wing of a large home would provide enough area to substantially increase the cost effectiveness of a Bright Idea thermal system with Greenhouse Cap.
Pictures
below show the design flexibility of the Greenhouse Cap concept. See
the photo albums for details, or check out (if you have Internet
Explorer) the Link to My Favorite Online Design Program in order to 3D
walk through each design.
To solve the mystery of the bed sheets go to What About the Bed Sheets?
