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 ...

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.

Dear Jim: I want to become more green and my children are all for it. From what I have read, using a solar water heater makes the most sense. I don't have much money for one. How can we build a simple ...

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 ...

The pre-Columbian ancestors of today's Indians used it. So did the ancient Romans, the medieval Arabs and many other preindustrial peoples around the world. It's still widely used in less-developed ...

The author’s home boasts numerous large south-facing windows that enable passive solar heating of the entire house, even in single-digit temps. In the early 1980s, an American energy crisis had passed ...

Even diehard Instagrammers admit it: Sometimes the best design is in what you don’t see. Such is the case with passive solar design, an approach to building that—in a nutshell—uses a house’s site, ...

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 ...

A solar pool heater uses a pump, a solar collector and piping in conjunction with your existing pool filter. The process is simple: The pump takes water from the pool, then forces it through the ...

Rising energy costs have people searching for free heating tricks. Here’s what actually works safely to keep your home warm ...

Jim Gagnepain calls it “the little bermed house on the prairie.” He and his wife, Stephanie, built their retirement home in eastern El Paso County. Jim, who has a background in electrical engineering, ...