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 well, and they placed them in ways that ...

A passive solar-heated home needs no solar panels to heat or cool it. Rather, the energy used to heat and cool a house comes directly from the sun through skylights and windows. Some of that energy is ...

If you’re building a new home, it makes sense to do it in a way that employs free, renewable energy when it’s available. Most home designs don’t prioritize using energy they receive from the sun, but ...

Passive solar architecture is a design strategy that optimizes a building’s energy efficiency and long-term sustainability. By relying on a building site’s solar orientation and climate, sustainable ...

Although the sun is almost 150 million kilometers away, this star has had the most impact on our planet. But while some are busy chasing the sun for sun-kissed skin, architects are all about creating ...

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 ...

A passive solar house is typically designed from scratch factoring in several considerations to boost the structure’s ability to naturally keep the interior living spaces a comfortable air temperature ...

Passive House design is the best option architects have today for a net-zero future, and it is up to us and our clients to make this future a reality. The building industry accounts for nearly 40 ...

Do you enjoy coming home to a warm home in the dead of winter? Do you leave your furnace running in cold weather even if no one’s home? If you want to keep the house warm for when you return later in ...

Sonya Newenhouse’s Wisconsin-based, 968-square-foot passive solar home is 80 percent more energy-efficient than the average U.S. home. Building a home with near-zero winter heating costs may sound ...