Book excerpt: Passive solar design techniques are becoming increasingly important in building design. This design reference book takes the building engineer or physicist step-by-step through the thermal analysis and design of passive solar buildings. In particular it emphasises two important topics: the maximum utilization of available solar energy and thermal storage, and the sizing of an appropriate auxiliary heating/cooling system in conjunction with good thermal control. Thermal Analysis and Design of Passive Solar Buildings is an important contribution towards the optimization of buildings as systems that act as natural filters between the indoor and outdoor environments, while maximizing the utilization of solar energy. As such it will be an essential source of information to engineers, architects, HVAC engineers and building physicists.