Solar Orientation

Correct solar orientation adds significantly to the comfort of the lifestyle of a building's occupants. Being able to control the amount of sun that enters a building is an important design aspect. The fact that the sun is lower in winter than in summer is a natural feature to exploit in the design in eaves and other sunshading devices.

The sun also comes up and sets in the North East and North West in winter and comes up and sets in the South East and South West in summer. This fact can also be used in the design of a building to control the amount of sunshine entering a building.

The amount of sunlight in summer and winter is also dependent on the lattitude of the site. The further away from the equator the greater the variation in sunlight between summer and winter. At the north and south pole there is constant day in summer and constant night in winter. At the equator the sun goes from north orientation in winter to south orientation in summer. Please see this link by the Australian Government and Australian Construction Industry for more information http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs19.htm .

Southern Hemisphere

The ideal orientation of a building is where the long wall and the majority of the glazing faces North. The possible difference in energy use for a house between North orientation and any other orientation, assuming heating and cooling to the range 18-27Deg C using an air conditioner with NSW electricity, is between 7% and 12% (which also represents the likely cost saving for heating and cooling). A study of 400 variants of 3 different architect's designs showed that North orientation was the most effective strategy to reduce life cycle energy use. Without North orientation even insulation strategies were not as effective. (Henriksen, 2006  http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an000040579903   )

Sun Paths and Sun Angles

Please see http://www.luxal.eu/resources/daylighting/sunpath.shtml