Solar Power
There are two ways to utilize Solar energy in your home.
Passive Solar
The first method is called Passive Solar. This method utilizes the sun directly to heat your home. Typically this involves the design and layout of your house and is best used when building a new home. The results can be very dramatic, with many homes achieving 90% of their heating directly from the sun with little to no supplemental heating.
Active Solar
The second method is active solar. Active solar uses more complex systems to harvest the energy from the sun and turn it into electricity or heat. The two main uses for active solar are photovoltaic electrical generation and solar hot water.