Smart Design For Hot/Humid Climates - Architect Peter L Pfeiffer, FAIA Part 1 of 2

Architect & Building Science expert Peter Pfeiffer is speaking at a local Austin event on how to design a home for our hot/humid climate. Green building is just building in a smart and organized way, listen to Peter as he shares he wealth of knowledge on this topic. -Matt Risinger Risinger Homes in Austin, TX. For more information on Peter's firm visit www.barleypfeiffer.com

[@buildshow]

Yes indeed! Thanks for commenting. Matt Risinger

[@buildshow]

See the link at 13:30 at the end of this video. I just got it uploaded, sorry for the delay. Matt

[@buildshow]

Sorry, part 2 is coming soon. It's being edited and I'll have it up in a few days. Matt Risinger

[@zschudrowitz155]

I'm adding onto my house and I've been watching your videos and similar videos for a few months now. THEYRE GREAT! I ponder the info and think about the future. Then I find a vid like this which confirms the direction my pondering is going. Fantastic. Thanks for all these great videos!

[@patrickkruse3349]

I agree with most all and appreciate your video. When you build a second story. When you only AC the top floor on a switch. You become the the chimney up stairwell for waste to cool. Hot air chases cool...

[@buildshow]

See the link to part 2 at 13:30 on this video. Matt Risinger

[@sashamoore9691]

Great video!

[@aaronharmon80]

Good stuff!

[@stephen5147]

good information.... thanks.

[@clarencehopkins7832]

Excellent stuff

[@galaxymetta5974]

I have an on grid solar system that churns out 3 times my electricity usage. I also have rain harvesting that cover 70% of my water usage.

[@linguistengineer588]

Surely higher ceilings collect the heat and enable it to be moved sideways by passive venturi style apertures?

[@linguistengineer588]

Most traditional buildings in the tropics have high ceilings, and even curves to channel warm air upwards and outwards.

[@charleswhalen7332]

At 3:00 in the video, Peter Pfeiffer says that (at least in the case of Austin's experience) rain barrels don't really save any water. Does he mean by this that houses that have roof rain catchment and cistern systems still use just as much piped-in (metered) municipal water as those houses that don't have rain catchment/cistern systems? Wow, if so, that's surprising, not what I would have expected. If that's the case, then I guess I should drop the idea of a rain catchment/cistern system for my planned zero-energy home build.

[@TheLolrider]

I can't speak for Peter, but he might be arguing that the relative costs don't change that much. I.e, you will save /some/ money, or save /some/ water, but not enough to meaningfully offset your total usage. Just speaking intuitively, it does not rain enough in Austin for me to use purely rain water for my utilities, especially given that a single 15 minute shower uses something like 30 gallons of water, average. If you have a 1000 gallon cistern, that's still only a month's worth of showers, and it would take more than a month's worth of rain to refill that cistern. Most people probably aren't going to change their habits drastically enough for that to make a difference, imo. So its not that it couldn't work, but probably that its not going to solve your problem on its own. Your mileage will vary depending on how much rain you get in your area.

[@JJunkin1]

nice. where's part 2?

[@kmattar]

He keeps saying to shade West facing windows! That’s false science. In Northern tropics the highest heat gain is from South face, second East, West is third, North requires no shading.

[@MultiYlin]

this is climate zone 1 and 2: the west-facing window is defo bad without shading. Heat gain at 2pm in Miami is defo uncomfortable which is not the case for Toronto or Montreal. And I don't agree with his negative opinion on the high ceiling because the cold air will condense to the ground that is why a split AC works well by hanging off the wall. And the northern climate needs 9feet is that the hot air rises and people cannot feel the heat if it is 10-11ft

[@jwmacmillan]

South facing windows can be easily shaded by overhangs because the sun is high in the sky at midday when the sun hits in this direction. The west windows need to be shaded vertically because the sun is lower in the sky closer to sunset, when the sun hits the west orientation.

[@AlexanderRubio36]