The 2,150 sq. ft. home includes heated floors, solar panels and a southern exposure for passive solar heating.

Energy savings can be achieved either from the reduced use of artificial lighting or from passive solar heating or cooling.

The house has passive solar heating, a 26-foot ceiling, large windows, three bathrooms and 3,000 square feet of decks.

Ground source heat pumps, passive solar heating, independent water well supply and a new treatment plant will make the house almost fully self-sufficient.

That was passive heating, Rosaleen said, only sunlight.

The density, thickness and thermal conductivity of rammed earth make it a particularly suitable material for passive solar heating.

Think of passive solar heating: heat collects in materials like cement, stone, asphalt, brick, then floods back out when the air around it cools.

We will encourage shared combined heat and power schemes, and encourage those planning new houses to take into account the scope for passive solar heating.

Instead they sited it facing south for passive solar heating.

The house, which has a concrete floor, also uses passive solar heating.