A sunspace offers the opportunity to collect solar energy and reduce home heating costs. A detailed project of monitoring and analysis was conducted in upstate New York on four sunspaces to determine the amount of energy collected and transferred to the living space. Monitored results indicated 350,000 to 870,000 Btu were saved during the sequential month-long survey of each sunspace during the winter of 1985-86. A TRNSYS computer analysis was also performed for several upstate New York locations. Computer results indicated that 3.2 to 5.7 million Btu can be saved annually by the sunspaces. Economics show the paybacks are 12.3 to 37 years depending fuel displaced. It should be noted that the data are pertinent to upstate New York, which has very limited solar radiation, and are not typical of other regions.

Units: I-P