The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun [Paperback]

Debra Rucker Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2005

The Sun Inspired House: Ideas and House Plans Using the Sun to Brighten and Warm Your Home is a unique combination of passive solar information and house plans designed to use the sun to maximum efficiency. The information is educational while the designs are inspirational. The elegant yet functional homes capture the non-polluting heat and wonderful light of the sun in a wide range of warm and welcoming styles. Blueprints are available for most of the designs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Debra Rucker Coleman, Architect and President of Sun Plans, Inc. has designed passive solar homes since 1985. Some of her work has been featured in Fine Homebuilding, Solar Today, and Home Energy. Coleman has lived in hot, moderate, and cold climates, but currently resides in Alabama, in a sun-temperes home for which she was both the architect and general contractor.

About the Author

Debra Rucker Coleman, Architect and founder of Sun Plans Inc. has been designing passive solar homes since 1985. She received her Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Arizona and became a licensed architect in 1984 after an internship in architecture and construction. In 2002 she received the "Best Practice" Sustainability Award for Residential Buildings from the Sustainable Building Industries Council. Her houses have been on the National Tour of Solar Homes. Fine Homebuilding, Solar Today, Mother Earth News, Home Power, Home Energy, numerous other publications, radio shows, and web sites have reviewed or published her work. Debra has lived in many climate zones including the Southwestern and Eastern U.S., Switzerland, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. She has researched energy requirements for other climates in the United States and Canada. She currently lives in Alabama in a sun-tempered home that she constructed with her family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Sun Plans (December 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976731800
• ISBN-13: 978-0976731801
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In this day and age of expensive fuels, passive solar is the way to go!, November 11, 2005

By 

Kitty Werner "katinvermont" (Waitsfield, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun (Paperback)

Coleman's book is a wealth of information on using the free power of the sun to heat and cool a home. This is practical information, tried and true, not weird machinations, to achieve environmentally-friendly, truly energy-efficient, eminently livable homes. The book is packed with essential information on actual house design, plus Sun Plans house designs using the technology, resources to find more information, information on the science and history behind the use of passive solar, as well as actual case histories of families living in passive solar homes designed by Coleman.

These homes have been built all over North America--from the wet Northwest, to the snowy Northeast, in between, and all over the South. As Coleman says, a passive solar home has to be designed for the particular locale to take full advantage of the sun's benefits.

My husband and I are so impressed with the practicality of Coleman's designs that we are building one of her homes ourselves.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of home designs which blends floor plans and modification ideas with sun-inspired homes for all climates, May 22, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun (Paperback)

A 'sun-inspired' room is sunny, open, warm in winter and cool in summer, and integrates sustainable design principles with efficiency and useful design basics. And THE SUN-INSPIRED HOUSE illustrates a range of concepts related to the sun, using fifty house plans to demonstrate integrated concepts. This is a collection of home designs which blends floor plans and modification ideas with sun-inspired homes for all climates. Blends of design and construction information provide an architect's expertise under one cover. What it lacks in glossy color photos is more than made up for in practical application designs and insider information paired with homeowner testimonials that they actually work. A top pick.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sun-inspired House: house designs warmed and brightened by the Sun, March 9, 2006

By 

Susan E. Sutch - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun (Paperback)

My personal interest is in building a new home within the next 2 years. A home that is more friendly to the environment--that is smaller, and utilizing the sun in my home design. The information alone in this book is invaluable and the designs by the architect are amazing. What an awesome utilization of space and design she has created!