The panels can be hinged, or not, as desired. And during the summer they can be stored under the deck. Additionally, one of those garage door screens could be used in the ‘buggy’ months, It can hang from the same hooks and be attached to the deck by leaving the bolts in place for the magnet strip in the screening to adhere to.

Heating the new space could be as easy as leaving the shed doors open, or installing a very small wood stove that you can make yourself out of a large coffee can and 2″ electrical conduit pipe. It wouldn’t take much space or use much wood to heat approx 250 cubic feet.

Regards,
Phyllis

From:Roof

The other option is a conventional shed shape like you have, with glazing on the tall wall, but with a secondary roof, usually cantilevered and flat with just the panels angled upwards. There is typically a row of clerestory windows placed between the two roofs in that design. This is a particularly good design because the ‘front’ roof (the flat cantilevered one) provides shade for the glazing during the summer, preventing overheating.

Bottom line, the roof containing solar panels needs to be oriented in the same direction as the glazing, and both should be oriented southward of course.

Also, regarding the comments about the weight of trombe walls- one frequently used (and inexpensive) trick to providing thermal mass in solar homes is to use water rather than brick and cement. Barrels (or square shaped containers) of water, usually dark colored can be used. This can be either static water, used solely for the thermal mass, or it can be part of the house’s water supply/catchment system.

In any case, a genuine trombe wall would be total overkill in a house this size. You’d end up a million degrees inside. A nice dark tile floor, maybe a long planter or two against the window would probably be all that’s necessary in something this small unless you’re living someplace absolutely frigid.

I was taking a look around Holland on a recent trip and I noticed that frequently houses with maximum south facing frontage had planted trees in front of the houses. The trees were ‘espailer’ that is trained, shaped and grafted to create a 2 dimensional shape. They were deciduous, often frut or nut trees that of course allowed winter sun through when the leaves had gone and maximum shade from the leaf cover in high summer.

Using trellis and appropriate climbers both ornamental and edible types would achieve the same effect. Has some value as a means of increasing privacy too!

Mark