When it comes to heating costs, most of us are not lucky enough to live in a temperate area with a constant year-round climate, and instead have to contend with winter heating bills that can be exceptionally high. When evaluating alternative home heating, an option that is often overlooked is passive solar heating. You not only save money, but energy as well.
Even on those truly frigid days in the dead of winter, the sun still emits a noticeable amount of heat. The only factor that precludes the accumulated snow from melting is the long night and short daylight period. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could use the sun’s heat when it’s available without needing to significantly modify your house?
There is an answer to some of the heating costs. It’s called the Trombe wall. It is made of material that is used for thermal mass, usually stone or concrete. It is insulated with glass and an airspace to help keep the heat in at night. There is also a shade that lets direct low winter sun enter, but keeps the glass from being heated too much from the high summer sun to help keep your cooling costs down.
True, short of major renovations, such an addition isn’t going to be easy to retrofit to your house, and custom designed homes are expensive. But retrofitting a house for other energy efficient heating techniques, like radiant heating, is also expensive and, unlike the other alternatives, passive solar heating, once implemented, costs nothing to continue using.
Consider also the fact that the concept of the Trombe wall is a 19th century invention that was popularized in the 1960’s and so has been designed into a number of existing homes. So when you’re looking for that new, energy efficient home, know that designs of yesteryear can still be green.
The ideas being pushed in the mainstream do work, but people have been looking for ways to save money for years. It’s just now that people are becoming more environmentally conscious and the cost of heating has risen so much that we are starting to look back at the clever solutions like passive solar heating that our ancestors used to save scarce resources, and use them instead to help save the planet.
Most of us have to worry about the large costs of heating our homes during the winter. Who doesn’t want to save energy and money? One thing people seldom consider when it comes to alternative home heating is the use of passive solar heating. The Trombe wall is made of concrete or stone and stores the sun’s heat energy to be released gradually throughout your home. It is insulated on the outside to prevent heat loss, and can even lower your cooling costs in the summer low as well. Retrofitting your home may be a major renovation, but well worth the investment.
- Ryan McCall
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