LASL Solar Mobile/Modular Home Project

Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1976. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. Good. Format is approximately 7 inches by 9 inches. [1], 14, [1] pages. Illustrations. Diagrams. Upper right corner bent. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) was investigating the application of solar energy to mobile/modular home heating and cooling through the testing and evaluation of a series of prototype solar heated and cooled homes. This project was one of the first that took solar energy out of the realm of the affluent and individual experimenter and into the realm of the man on the street by developing solar heating and cooling systems suitable for assembly line production of factory-built mobile/modular housing. Project funding came from the Division of Solar Energy of the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration. Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis. It is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.