Passive Solar and Energy Conservation

There is a large and growing trend in which seniors living in the colder parts of the United States go into assisted living in the fall – only to come out and move back into their homes in the spring.  This, of course, is due to the rising cost of energy: people living on modest fixed income sources simply cannot afford to heat their homes. 

Not that it’s of much value to these unfortunate souls, essentially forced from their homes as they are, but there is also a growing trend to passive solar, i.e., home building in such a way as to capture as much heat from the sun as possible during the winter, while absorbing as little as possible in the summer.  The article linked above provides some terrific examples.

Also, as I noted the other day, the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, and China were well aware of passive solar as well; it’s nothing new.