Passive Solar Heating Works Even In The Winter

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.

It is not very easy to retrofit your home, and you would might need to do a major renovation. Custom designed homes are also expensive. Retrofitting your home for other energy efficient heating systems such as radiant heating is also expensive. However, with passive solar heating, after you pay for installation, it costs nothing to heat your home.

You should also think about how the Trombe wall was invented in the 19th century, and became popular in the 1960’s. This wall has been installed in many existing homes. If you want a new, energy efficient home, you can still consider older designs because they can be green as well.

The commonly presented traditional views are viable, but we have all been searching for a long time for ways to economize. Finally nowadays, we have become more ecologically aware and, given the high prices of our usual heat sources, we have begun to think about clever answers found by our forefathers, such as passive solar heating. That allows us to preserve precious, dwindling resources and utilize them alternatively in our struggle to save our beleaguered planet.

One thing people seldom consider when it comes to alternative home heating is the use of passive solar heating. What if you could harness that heating power, even for the short time you get it, without making huge changes to the structure of your home? Enter the Trombe wall. It’s a wall of material used for thermal mass to store the heat of the day and release it slowly through the day and night. It’s insulated on the outside by a pane of glass and an airspace to prevent heat loss to outside at night.

- Ryan McCall