Man Heats 4,000 Sq. Ft Home for $2.50 Per Day Using Passive Solar Technology

August 28th, 2008 by Ariel Schwartz

Why spend lots of money heating your house when nature can do it for you? Upstate New York resident John Kosmer has taken passive solar to a new level in his home, which only costs $2.50 a day to heat. That’s less than $1,000 a year of heating expenses in an area of the country that gets mauled with snow multiple times a year.

Kosmer worked with Building With Integrity and Adirondack Alternative Energy to construct his passive solar house. Four-inch thick rigid polyurethane is installed on the exterior walls and under the roof, while pre-finished concrete siding covers the exterior of the home.

But the real key to Kosmer’s low heating costs is his windows. 53 vinyl-framed Simonton windows are strategically placed throughout the house, letting sunlight into the white interior of the structure.

A wood stove also rises multiple stories into the atrium, where heated air is carried up into grilles in the attic ductwork. The air is then redistributed throughout the house, which stays at a temperature of 68 degrees.

A project of this magnitude may be out of your reach if you live in a 100 year-old poorly-insulated home, but it’s worth considering if you’re on the hunt for a new house.

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