Designing your Solar Home to take advantage of the sun's energy can save you thousands of dollars in energy costs over the years.

When you think about living off the grid or solar power with connection to the grid, you have already made a basic decision to save planetary energy by using renewable energy resources. Off the grid means not being connected to a utility company that delivers electricity over a wide area which means you are self sufficient. But you could also use solar power and have a connection to a utility company.

To make it simple, a solar home has to be as efficient as it can be for things to work in a balanced manner. It should be built in a passive solar style. You probably live in a passive solar home right now and don’t even know it. Passive solar homes use a room or another part of the structure as a solar thermal energy collector, and in fact, your home’s windows, walls, and floors collect, store, and distribute solar energy every day. However, your home may not be very efficient at using the sun’s energy. Your house should be sealed and insulated top, bottom, and sides. A passive solar home has three times as many windows as a normal home. In your home you might have one room that gets toasty while another is chilly. That’s because the typical home isn’t designed to use solar energy to its advantage.

More: continued here