American Greenhouse?

An interesting feature in the current Time magazine is a piece on “commonsense design principles” that can help power a home cleanly, efficiently and cheaply. Indeed, the ideas presented in the magazine do seem intriguing and perhaps in the current energy market more people will find them compelling.

For keeping cool, the magazine recommends a whole house fan in the attic, which costs one-tenth the operating cost of central air conditioning. For heating, the piece suggests a solar thermal panel filed with antifreeze, which is warmed by the sun and pumped through coils under the house – with proper insulation and windows, such a system can heat a home for a small fraction of the price of traditional sources, particularly in a severe winter.

Such innovative ideas, coupled with more familiar notions like using Energy Star products and hybrid cars, could save US households thousands in coming months – and may ultimately determine how dependent the economy is on energy prices, a commodity very much out of our control. Kudos to Time for putting together such a helpful piece, hopefully we will begin seeing similar items in the mainstream press.