A problem with passive solar household heating here in Colorado is that it is too sunny. Unless properly engineered, the house will be hot in the winter and a furnace in the summer. It turns out that ventilation and shading of the glass is important. Even in a regular house without any particular attention paid to solar heat, keeping things cool is the primary problem most of the year.

It is April 22 and we had our windows open all night because even though it got down to 5 C last night, today's high temperature will be around 26 C.

The power of the Sun is more than most people imagine--even in "temperate" climates.

We're on the local "Green Power" plan, which uses utility company solar panels to provide electricity via the regular power lines. When the program was introduced, it was estimated that it would add about $8 to the monthly charge for domestic customers.

The regular electricity rate is high right now due to the problems in Texas last winter (frozen natural gas lines that drove the price up all over the country) that the utility company is still paying off. As a result, the Green Power rate is lower now than the regular rate, because the solar panels are cheaper overall than the coal+gas that provides most of the conventional power.

So that is good.