Do you know what the best direction for your House to face is?
It’s surprising how many people in America don’t know this!
The best orientation for a house can cut your Energy bills, improve natural sunlight coming into your house, help your garden grow, and maybe even enhance a little feng shui!
It’s estimated that 28% of global CO2 emissions are a result of maintaining thermal comfort (heating, cooling and lighting) in buildings.
If your house has good orientation, it will cut down your heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. Neat, huh?
In this quick guide, we’re going to explain how best to orient a house to take advantage of winter and summer sun to ultimately improve energy efficiency.
Short Answer – The Best Direction to Build a House
If you want a quick answer, here it is. Build your house with the front facing the north and the back facing the south.
This is considered good orientation because of the sun exposure in the northern hemisphere, so it’s applicable to all American households and European ones too!
The ultimate goal is to increase your sun exposure in the winter to naturally warm your home, and decrease sun exposure in the summer to naturally keep it cool.
But there is more to consider
The truth is that when asking yourself what direction should a house face for energy efficiency, it’s a little more complex than just pointing the front of the house to face north.
To enhance the effect as much as possible, you should have the longest sides of your house facing north and south to maximize the surface area of your home that’s in direct sunlight/shaded.
In the winter, the sun makes a shallow arc across the southern part of the sky, so having south-Facing windows will allow you to enjoy as much natural light as possible during this part of the year. It’s best to place your kitchen and living room on the south side to enjoy this lovely sunshine. You should also have your backyard on the southern side of your home, so your building doesn’t block the limited winter light from hitting your garden.
In the summer, the sun makes a direct arc overhead and lingers at the highest point in the sky (midday) for quite a while. Having the north-south orientation keeps the sun focused on the roof and short sides of the house during this part of the year, instead of shining through any windows on the west and east faces of your home.
Find out what happens if your home isn’t orientated with the long sides facing north and south below.
Houses at Different Orientations
If you are looking to buy a house or are stuck in your current property, here’s how your current orientation is impacting energy efficiency.
West Facing House
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. With the majority of your windows facing west, you’ll see some spectacular sunsets if the topography allows it. You’ll also have your backyard facing east, so it will get the most sunlight in the morning but be a shadowy and cool place to sit in the evening.
Depending on whether you live in a northern or southern state, a cool and shady backyard may be advantageous.
However, in general, a house that faces west at the front will be cold inside. One study found that houses with a west-facing front have a higher annual energy consumption by 26% over southern-facing homes.
East Facing House
If your house faces east, then you’ve got the same problem as a west facing house in terms of energy efficiency. Except in this orientation, it’s the front of your house that gets the most sunlight in the morning and your backyard that’s bathed in the evening light.
If you aren’t interested in growing plants in your backyard but instead want to use the patio for evening drinks and BBQs, this orientation is very nice. However, it’s going to cost you more in energy bills nonetheless.
Reversed North-South Facing
If you’ve got the front of your house facing south and the back of your house facing north, with windows on these sides, you’ll still greatly benefit from improved energy efficiency.
But your backyard will suffer.
In the winter, with the sun making a shallow arc across the southern aspect of the sky, your home will be blocking light from reaching your backyard. That’s why many people prefer to have a house facing north rather than south, even though the energy saving benefits are roughly the same.
North vs South Facing Windows
For maximum natural light window placement, having your windows on the south side of your home will enable you to enjoy the winter sun as much as possible. The heat gain from allowing the sun into your home on this side will mean lower energy bills.
You don’t need to build a house directly on the north-south orientation, however. The closest you can get, the better. One study found that adjusting the orientation off the north-south line by 15 degrees only increases energy consumption by 1-2%, and adjusting it by 30 degrees led to a 3-5% increase.
Best Direction for Solar Panels
Installing solar panels on residential buildings is growing in popularity, so you may want to build (or buy) a home that has a good roof orientation for harvesting solar power.
The best passive solar design for the walls and windows of your home is to be as close to north-south as possible, however it’s a little different for using panels to harvest solar energy.
South – or south-west, if you can’t find a roof oriented toward true south – is best for solar panels. Imagine you are aiming them at the equator! Furthermore, they should be tilted to an angle that matches the latitude of your location. In the US, this angle is between 26 and 48 degrees.
Hint: click anywhere on Google maps to drop a pointer that tells you the exact latitude and longitude of the location!
3 More Tips to Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency
If your home is at an inefficient orientation, don’t panic. Here are three more tips to help you reduce your energy bill:
- Energy Efficient Windows – keep the heat loss to a minimum by ensuring your windows are correctly sealed. Double glazing will make a huge difference and as a bonus, your home will be quieter too.
- Shuffle Your Rooms Around – ideally, you want your most-used rooms on the south side of your home where it’s naturally warmer. Move the pantry, utilities, and storage rooms to the north side of your home, where it’s naturally cooler. You won’t have to fire up the central heating so much now.
- Carefully Placed Air Conditioning – your air conditioning unit should be placed somewhere that’s naturally cool in your home, even though you may be tempted to install it in the hottest corner. Keeping your air con in the coldest spot means it doesn’t need to work so hard. Let the natural circulation of cool air be blown into the warmer areas of your home. Trust us, it’s more efficient this way!
Quick Fire FAQs
In the northern hemisphere, windows on the south side of your home will get the most natural light overall as they get the most direct sun during the winter months.
During the winter, north-facing windows get very little natural light. During the summer, they will get a little more.
In the northern hemisphere of the Earth, windows that face south receive more light in the winter when the sun doesn’t arc so high in the sky. This results in passive heating!
Having the front of your house facing north, with minimal windows, ensures that the southern part of your home and your backyard receive as much light as possible during the winter months. This is good for growing things, enjoying natural light, and reducing your energy bills.
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