On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 09:39:44 GMT, Anthony Matonak
wrote:

Joe Fischer wrote:
A house built for solar heat, or any type of efficient
heating, should have a triple wall construction, in contrast
to present common designs, a well insulated outer wall,
a thick masonry wall (concrete block), and either face brick
on the inside, or furring strips and plaster (drywall).
There are many concrete block houses, but almost
all have the block on the outside.

Perhaps because the block is much more durable and resistant to
the weather than insulation. Myself, I would have to run the numbers
but I have a feeling that if you have a well (even super) insulated
house then the typical contents of that house, drywall, furniture,
collections of brick a brack, would have more than enough thermal
mass to do the job.

Not even close to the mass of concrete blocks,
in fact, a double row of blocks with concrete poured
between them would pay for itself in 5 years in
energy savings. When current construction
design was made, energy was not much of
a consideration.
It is really hard to break bad habits.

This is as bad as all the industrial buildings having
north facing windows.

There is a good reason for this. South facing windows would have
direct sunlight shining in and this would be much too intense
and uneven for work. North facing windows, if there are enough
of them, provide more than enough diffuse light without 'hot spots'.
Anthony

South facing windows do not allow direct sunlight
in summer if there is much overhang at all, this is something
that needs to be taught in the first grade.
And it would be easy and low cost to have a
swinging overhang that could be set for seasons
and unusually warm days in spring and fall.

Joe Fischer