With rising energy costs and massive stress on our electrical grids, passive solar is gaining in popularity. So, what is a passive solar heating system?

What is a Passive Solar Heating System

A passive solar heating system is simply a method to use the energy of the sun to produce heat in a structure, most often a home. While you may associate panel systems with any mention of solar power, they are not a component of passive solar heating.

Passive solar heating has been with us for much of the history of mankind. Earlier civilizations, obviously, didn’t have electricity. To keep structures warmed, they learned to use the heat produced by sunlight. It is fairly humorous when archeologists marvel at the fact ancient structures are always oriented to the sun. If they new anything about passive solar, they would realize the structures were being used to produce thermal heating through masonry, openings and so on. Regardless, these early civilizations were the first to develop and implement passive solar heating system.

The simplest way to explain passive solar heating is with a practical example. Assume it is summer time and your car is parked in the driveway with the windows rolled up. What happens when you open the door to get in? A massive blast of heat comes out. If you have black seats like I do, you also hop around like a fool when you sit down. Your car is hot because it has acted as a passive solar heating system. The sun came in the windows, heated up surfaces in the car and raised the temperature. Since most vehicles are poorly ventilated, the heat reached unbearable levels because it couldn’t escape quickly enough. A passive solar heating system works the same way in a structure.


A passive solar heating system is really just a house plan. The idea is to maximize sun penetration into the home, covert the sunlight into heat, and circulate it through the home. To accomplish this, one typically puts windows on the south side of the home to capture as much sunlight as possible. Thermal storage materials, such as masonry, are placed below the windows to capture and store heat for after the sun goes down. The heat from the sun is circulated throughout the house throughout the day and evening until the stored amount is exhausted. Yes, it works in winter.

What is a passive solar heating system? An ancient and highly effective method for heating your home.