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Figure 7:When designing a solar home, you must locate true (solar) south, not magnetic south. Thismap shows how magnetic south varies from true south in different parts of the United States.Buffer Zone:Design your house so that rooms with relatively low heat and light requirements,those that get infrequent use (storage, utility room, garage, e.g.), and those roomsthat generate high internal heat (kitchen) are located on the north side of the houseto reduce winter heat load.In 1983 J. Douglas Balcomb and the research team at Los Alamos NationalLaboratory issued a set of direct gain and indirect gain design guidelines for heatingpassive solar houses located in the U.S. They included information on infiltrationrates and selecting R -values for the walls, ceiling, perimeter, and basement. Theyalso made suggestions about what kinds of glazings to use for east, west and northwindows, as well as about how to size the solar collection area.The technique is not a substitute for more rigorous computer-simulated thermalanalysis by a professional engineer, but it gives owner -builders a solid basis for the343