There isn’t a strict definition for what makes a home "solar" — it just has to use energy from the sun in some capacity. If you’re building a new home, it makes sense to do it in a way that employs ...

Even diehard Instagrammers admit it: Sometimes the best design is in what you don’t see. Such is the case with passive solar design, an approach to building that—in a nutshell—uses a house’s site, ...

Passive solar architecture is a design strategy that optimizes a building’s energy efficiency and long-term sustainability. By relying on a building site’s solar orientation and climate, sustainable ...

As I discussed in last week’s column ("Resilience: Dramatically Better Building Envelopes," Jan. 4), a resilient home is extremely well-insulated, so that it can be kept warm with very little ...

Since ancient times, people have found ways to use the sun’s heat to stay warm or keep cool. They built homes from clay and other materials that hold heat well, and they placed them in ways that ...