• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Tereza Okava
  • Andrés Bernal
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • M Ljin
  • Matt McSpadden

Orientation question

 
Posts: 107
13
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I’m in zone 6b Canada, and about to put up a 26’ Palram greenhouse. The site has full sun from 8am-7pm late spring to fall. How absolutely critical is it to situation the house E/W vs N/S? The reason I ask is that there is a perfectly flat N/S spot vs a hill going E/W. I do understand the issue with winter sun, however for this site I believe it will still have adequate light. So, anybody in northern US/Canada have a N/S greenhouse?
 
Michael Adams
Posts: 107
13
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Here’s a photo facing south of the pad I’d like to build on vs building E/W
A22329B2-E22E-4456-8DC9-473CB7C17511.jpeg
potential greenhouse building site
 
gardener
Posts: 2563
Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5
890
trees food preservation solar greening the desert
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
What are your aims and hopes for this greenhouse? If you want it to stay as warm as possible on its own heat from the sun, then EW orientation is pretty essential, especially as you are in Canada. If you are planning to provide a heat source then NS orientation, as you say, could probably provide enough light for the plants. Or if you don't mind it going far below freezing in winter, and only want to use it in spring, it might be fine.

NS orientation may also have worse overheating problems from April to Sept, too, so major active ventilation may be necessary. This is because in those months, the sun rises north of east and sets north of west, and spends hours shining on the east side of things in the morning, and, worse, on the west side in the afternoon when things are already pretty hot. So plants can get cooked. In winter, the sun rises south of east and sets south of west, and doesn't spend much time shining on the east and west walls, so those walls are mostly heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.
 
Michael Adams
Posts: 107
13
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thank you! Is there a way to calculate  winter sun height when in another season...(like now?) lol
 
Rebecca Norman
gardener
Posts: 2563
Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5
890
trees food preservation solar greening the desert
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I like the TimeAndDate.com website. This is for Toronto but you can change it to your actual town:
Sun altitude info for Toronto
 
I am going down to the lab. Do NOT let anyone in. Not even this tiny ad:
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic