Following the first energy crisis in 1973 there was a rush to heat homes with the sun. It was a tinkerer's paradise, with all manner of solar heating systems migrating from garage workshops to ...

SOLAR HOT WATER pre-heat systems fall into two basic categories active and passive types with numerous subcategories. A passive solar DHW pre-heater is also known as a breadbox heater or batch heater.

As I discussed in last week’s column ("Resilience: Dramatically Better Building Envelopes," Jan. 4), a resilient home is extremely well-insulated, so that it can be kept warm with very little ...

It won't be long before winter hits us again, and I promised myself last year that we'd do what we could to our home to make it more comfortable this year. It stayed cold indoors all last winter, and ...

Heating houses is a major energy suck. Behind passenger cars and trucking, it’s the largest energy draw in the United States. But it turns out homeowners looking to stay warm don’t need to rely just ...

This second floor room takes advantage of the passive solar heat of the morning sun. ANA VENEGAS Fresno Custom Publications Photo When Chris Senior was in college in the ’70s, he was convinced energy ...

Even diehard Instagrammers admit it: Sometimes the best design is in what you don’t see. Such is the case with passive solar design, an approach to building that—in a nutshell—uses a house’s site, ...

Now that the winter solstice, the shortest daylight day of the year, is behind us I’m reminded of how important it is to let the sunshine into our lives. There are many benefits to having large ...

If you have large, south-facing windows, you may already be using solar power in your house. If the windows turn a room into a sauna in the summer and a fridge in the winter, some touchups can lower ...

Orient the long axis of the house in an east-west direction. Locate habitable rooms on the south side of the house for greater comfort while putting utility rooms, bathrooms, closets, and hallways on ...

Vertical window blinds from SolarChoice Heat, Chaska, Minn., are said to offer homeowners and business several advantages when it comes to heating and Vertical window blinds from SolarChoice Heat, ...