page_title: Solar access
section_title: The influence of street orientation
hierarchical_section_title: Solar access / Solar access in urban planning / The influence of street orientation
caption_attribution_description: English: The importance of street orientation for solar access.
context_page_description: Solar access is the ability of one property to continue to receive sunlight across property lines without obstruction from another’s property. Solar access is calculated using a sun path diagram. Sun is the source of our vision and energy. Its movements inform our perception of time and space. Access to sun is essential to energy conservation and to the quality of our lives.
  Solar access is differentiated from solar rights or solar easement, which is specifically meant for direct sunlight for solar energy systems, whereas solar access is a right to sunlight upon certain building façades regardless of the presence of active or passive solar energy systems.
context_section_description: Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample of Barcelona is credited as being a good example of an orthogonal town-plan street orientation for increased solar access.  By rotating the grid to a 45 degree angle from southernly orientation, the morning and afternoon sunlight is able to penetrate into the urban fabric more than in a north-south oriented grid.  The so-called "Spanish grid" was also applied in Los Angeles, though in newer parts of the city a north-south grid was used.  The Spanish grid is advantageous regarding street qualities of light and heat. During the winter, every street on the Spanish grid receives direct light and heat sometime between 9AM and 3PM, the six hours of greatest insolation. It is true that at midday, all streets have shadows; but because of their diagonal orientation, more sunlight enters than if they ran due east-west.  In summer, the advantage of the Spanish grid is that shadows are cast into every street all day long, creating a more comfortable environment in hot climates, with the exception of a short period during mid- morning and mid-afternoon when the sun passes quickly over first one diagonal street and then the other.
caption: The importance of street orientation for solar access
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