One of the most immediately appealing ways to conserve energy in your home is through passive solar heating. It is a method completely distinct from the use of solar cells; passive solar designs don’t convert energy - they just make better use of the stuff that’s already there! To take full advantage of the ways you can use the sun to heat your home, it’s best if you can design it from the ground up, so passive solar heating is most useful for buildings in the planning stages. But through moderate re-modeling you can help your existing home make much better use of natural light and heat.

When you have a great deal of sunlight entering your home through windows, you have provided yourself with a sufficient amount of heat when the sun is shining. But on cloudy days and at night, you will still need to rely completely on your traditional heating system - unless your home has a built-in way to store the sun’s heat. There are several home designs that can achieve this.

Passive heat storage systems absorb and store the excess thermal energy that enters a well-designed passive solar home during the day. In most cases the heat is stored in the masonry of a house, or its walls, floors and ceilings, which can be made of a number of heat-conducting materials.

For more thorough information on passive heat storage systems, please visit:

Arizona Solar Center - a very thorough list and description of several heat storage systems