Unfortunately for those of us who don't live in Southern California, the price of keeping our homes warm during the winter can be enormous. It can easily become a waste of power and savings. Going green in home heating can be effective in saving you money and helping out the environment- so why not consider passive solar heating when you're looking for alternative home heating options?

Even on the coldest winter days, the sun's heat can be significant. It's only the shortness of the days that keeps the snows from melting. What if you could harness that heating power, even for the short time you get it, without making huge changes to the structure of your home?

Enter the Trombe wall. It's a wall of material used for thermal mass (concrete or stone, for example) to store the heat of the day and release it slowly through the day and night. It's insulated on the outside by a pane of glass and an airspace to prevent heat loss to outside at night. Above the glass is a shade that allows direct exposure to the low winter sun, but shades the glass from the prolonged heat of the high summer sun, helping to keep summer cooling bills low as well.

It is not very easy to retrofit your home, and you would might need to do a major renovation. Custom designed homes are also expensive. Retrofitting your home for other energy efficient heating systems such as radiant heating is also expensive. However, with passive solar heating, after you pay for installation, it costs nothing to heat your home.

Even though it became popular in homes built in the 1960's, the idea behind the Trombe wall actually originated in the 19th century. In shopping for that new, energy efficient home, you should keep in mind that you can still go green by using past, proven design techniques.

Now that the awareness of green issues is commonplace, people are becoming aware of the costs involved in heating our homes, both financial and environmental. Ideas from our ancestors, both ancient and not so ancient, solutions such as passive solar heating, are being looked at as viable because not only do they have a benefit environmentally, but they save us money as well.

One thing people seldom consider when it comes to alternative home heating is the use of passive solar heating. What if you could harness that heating power, even for the short time you get it, without making huge changes to the structure of your home? Enter the Trombe wall. It's a wall of material used for thermal mass to store the heat of the day and release it slowly through the day and night. It's insulated on the outside by a pane of glass and an airspace to prevent heat loss to outside at night.