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A house heated by you and the sun and no furnace.
Passive House Institute, Germany
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You really can't talk about heating and cooling a house independently from talking about the house itself; they work together as a system. The best example of this is the Passive House: It is designed so that it barely needs any heat at all.
What is Passive Heating?
No furnace at all; it is a way of building a house so well insulated and sealed, sited so carefully that sunshine and body heat keep it warm and toasty. The Passive House Institute describes it as:
"a comprehensive system. "Passive" describes well this system's underlying receptivity and retention capacity. Working with natural resources, free solar energy is captured and applied efficiently, instead of relying predominantly on 'active' systems to bring a building to 'zero' energy. High performance triple-glazed windows, super-insulation, an airtight building shell, limitation of thermal bridging and balanced energy recovery ventilation make possible extraordinary reductions in energy use and carbon emission."
Why we like it
The price of energy is right: free. You pay your money up front and reap the benefits forever-no fuel bills.
What we worry about
Air quality and humidity control. You have to bring in fresh air all the time because the house is so well sealed. This air is preheated in a heat exchanger (and tempered a bit with a duct that runs under the house in some cases) but you are dependent on a fan to run the heat exchanger, the only real moving part in the system.
There are some limitations on design; windows to the south are huge, all others very tiny. The houses are usually boxy and small to minimize heat loss.
Eco-factor of Passive Heating
It really doesn't get any more eco than this, cutting energy consumption by over 90% while providing good air quality through the heat exchanger.
Cost of Passive Heating
Most of the websites discussing passive houses say they cost about 15% more than conventional houses; That seems light, given the amount of insulation and the care that must be taken to seal it. But whatever cost it is, it will be offset by the tremendous savings in heating.
More on Passive Houses:
Passivhaus in the New York Times
A Passiv Haus in Urbana, Illinois
Passive Houses Get Good Graphic Explanation
Denmark Debuts First Certified Passive House
