Using a pond to reflect sunlight

I will apologize in advance for not posting this in the proper area.
Recently Paul gave a two and a half hour presentation on permaculture.
I watched him speak on YouTube.
During his presentation he mentioned a pond being used to direct sunlight to a brick wall.
It was a sketch and he mentioned thermal inertia.

Can someone direct me to where I can find more information on this design?

Thanks
Kevin in NJ

Howdy Kevin welcome to Permies!
I bet you might find some more info in one of these threads.

https://permies.com/forums/f-89/ponds

Here is the thread of TEFA (textured earth, food all-year):

https://permies.com/t/16894/paul-wheaton-farm/tefa-textured-earth-food-year

It has the image that was used in the presentation and a much more info.

Thank you Emily,
That is exactly what I was looking for.

Kevin

Kevin Murphy wrote:
Recently Paul gave a two and a half hour presentation on permaculture.
I watched him speak on YouTube.
During his presentation he mentioned a pond being used to direct sunlight to a brick wall.
It was a sketch and he mentioned thermal inertia.

I imagine you watched this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZPTPIHO8w ( 2013 Southern California Permaculture Convergence.)

At my place I dug two small ponds directly in front of my house and noticed last Winter how much it changed the climate in front of my house
in a number of ways.
The water itself keeps the surrounding air temperatures from swinging too wildly, but also the ponds reflect light and heat back towards and into the house.

I always knew that water reflected light, but I never realized that the heat in the sunlight is bounced too.

Ive often wondered about this and want to include such a feature in my future digs, mainly because I love the way the light dances. I highly suspect a darker ceiling would be advised. Any input on blinding glare?

Brian Knight wrote:Ive often wondered about this and want to include such a feature in my future digs, mainly because I love the way the light dances. I highly suspect a darker ceiling would be advised. Any input on blinding glare?

Funny you should mention that. Yesterday I was sitting on the couch looking at the patterns and waves of sunlight reflected off one of my ponds onto the living room ceiling.
In the Winter time with the lower sun angle the reflections go much further back into the room.
I have a white ceiling and this helps to re-reflect the light around the room, a darker ceiling would just absorb it.

I like it, it's attractive and relaxing to watch, there is more light/heat in the house, and the 40+ plants I generally have in pots around the living room in the Winter really like the extra light.

I'm in the process of building a passive solar home in MN and plan to have a large pond in front of (to the south) of it. It will be ice for most of the winter but should still reflect more light than the surrounding land especially if there isn't much for snow cover which has been more unpredictable in the last couple decades than it used to be.

Anyone using a pond this way should remember to look at the geometry of the angle of the sun as the seasons change so that the light reflects where it is beneficial and not into the building in the middle of the summer. I still need to work this out better before the final shape is determined. Also the sun's path throughout the day can be examined for the same reason. It seems like a crescent or smiley face shaped pond that has the convex side towards the house would be best so that when the sun is lower in the morning and late afternoon the reflection point is farther away. If the pond is really big this wouldn't matter though.

Another idea I'm considering is making 1-3 very small crescent shaped ponds in front of individual windows or the attached greenhouse.