Build a Solar Cart Instead of Removing Trees

Reader Contribution by Linda Holliday
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Reading John Perlin’s latest blog about 6,000 years of solar energy, I am reminded how modern builders can rarely consider natural efficiency anymore when positioning a house. Sometimes regulated by local ordinances, most homes simply face the road, no matter which way it’s pointing.

Our house, for example, a 1966 rancher, faces due west, with the largest windows catching intense summer heat all afternoon and bitter wind in winter. (I made triple-layer drapes of old blankets and bed sheets to compensate for this layout boo-boo.) Trees, too, at most homes are situated for curb appeal, rather than strategically planted to block wind or sun.

At least 4,000 years ago, the Chinese built their roads wide, running east and west so every building benefits from a southerly exposure in winter. In the last 100 or so years, those building practices were all but abandoned in industrialized nations. Middle class Americans could build 5,000-square-foot homes facing any which way, so long as there was electricity and fossil fuels to heat, cool and light them.

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