Roz,
I do not actually have a question for you, I just wanted to type the words:
"Hey, Roz..."that was fun. Now that I think of it, maybe I do have a question for you:
"... are you good at math?"
As part of my ongoing "Backyard Greenhouse" design project, I have stumbled upon what is known as
The Equation of Thyme[sp]. Which, among other things, can be used to determine the Sun's apparent position in the sky at any given moment in thyme throughout the year. I think it tells you the Right ascension (East/West angle on the horizon) & Azimuth (angle up from the horizon) for any particular time/date of the year. It also corrects for your latitude (which affects the sun's position at any given time), timezone AND will also correct for longitude/timezone errors due to your position being at one of the extreme edges of any given timezone.
I think it is pretty neat, but for the purposes I wish to use it I do not need all the "extra" variables that will correct for
Apparent vs. Greenwich Mean Time &c. I just need to find out the angle of the sun throughout the solar day from the Winter Solstice to the Summer Solstice at my latitude (~39N°), or possibly for the entire year.
With that information in hand, I believe I can then construct an egg-shaped geodesic dome for the roof of my "Backyard Greenhouse" that will maximize
solar insolation into the greenhouse for my specific latitude. The idea being that this will minimize my greenhouse heating costs in the winter months and hopefully enable me to keep my potted Palm Trees, Citrus Trees and other tropical plants alive over the winter without dragging them into the house and up to the second and third floors and back outside every year. Which is a huge pain in the butt, and sometimes back.
Plus I think it would look really cool and also might be a neat gimmick for my insane plan to turn the property into a little cafe/restaurant. I could claim that I grow my own ingredients year-round!
Anyway, if you are good at math & calculus and such things and enjoy that sort of thing you could figure that out for me one day when you are bored and have nothing better to do. No pressure or anything, I can probably figure it out on my own but since having the idea a few months back I have not had the thyme to sit down and simplify the
Equation of Thyme to the point where I can just "plug & chug" in the variables to find the optimal angles for my geodesic greenhouse panes.
I bet someone has already done the work for me (in a way) in the solar power industry to keep the solar panels pointed at the sun for maximum efficiency throughout the day. I intend to build a static structure, not some Rube Goldberg-type contraption that has the dome somehow track and follow the movement of the sun:
that sounds overly complicated.
I like the KISS (
Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle of design.
Cheers,
