Switch to solar with a system built for you. Since ancient times, people have found ways to use the sun’s heat to stay warm or keep cool. They built homes from clay and other materials that hold heat ...

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 ...

Passive solar design is nothing new — it has probably been around as long as people have been building houses — and it has nothing to do with solar panels. It’s all about creating a comfortable space ...

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 ...

As a former realtor, general contractor and greenhouse operator, Kristi has touched nearly all aspects of homeownership, from the foundation up. Today, Kristi is a full-time investing and real estate ...

Solar water heaters work by absorbing sunlight in solar collectors and saving the heated water in a storage tank. Both active and passive solar water heaters are available. Active systems are ...

When it comes to renewable energy at home, solar panels are often the first option that comes to mind, leaving homeowners with the choice between monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar panels, and ...

A research team at Korea University has created a passive cooling system for solar panels that uses a water desorption process and endothermic reaction dissolution process. The method is similar to ...

Q: I’ve been hearing a lot about solar water heating lately. Is it something worth pursuing for my home? A: To get some answers, we talked to Amy Leedom, the director of marketing for Dwell ...

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 ...