Yes, you can argue with the potential buyers, but it’s a buyer’s market right now so sometime you don’t have an option. If your new job is waiting and the old paycheck is done, you will have to sell and relocate. Very few families can carry two mortgages at the same time. So think about the recouping time vs the benefits before you decide on installing solar panels. But one thing for certain is that you’re helping the environment.

However, if you’re already retired or near retirement, or have a job that’s tenured or self employed, solar panels can be a good investment. It might take you years to recoup the cost, but you’re doing something good for the environment and you will recoup eventually. Just won’t happen in 5 or 8 years.

The best strategy for controlling moisture in your home depends on your climate and how your home is constructed. Before deciding on a moisture control strategy for your home, you may first want to understand how moisture moves through a home.

Moisture control strategies typically include the following areas of a home:

• Attics
• Foundation
  • Basement
  • Crawl space
  • Slab-on-grade floors
• Walls.

In most U.S. climates, you can use vapor diffusion retarders in these areas of your home to control moisture.

Proper ventilation should also be part of a moisture control strategy.

Source: EERE

Today’s highly energy-efficient windows, as well as advances in lighting design, allow efficient use of windows to reduce the need for artificial lighting during daylight hours without causing heating or cooling problems. For older homes, the windows are not well insulated and usually were designed in small sizes. If you have the means to replace them, you should take advantage of the solar energy. If you happen to live in the northeast where winters are long and cold, new and energy efficient windows can save you a lot in the long run.

Source: EERE

An indirect-gain passive solar home has its thermal storage between the south-facing windows and the living spaces.

Using a Trombe wall is the most common indirect-gain approach. The wall consists of an 8–16 inch-thick masonry wall on the south side of a house. A single or double layer of glass is mounted about 1 inch or less in front of the wall’s surface. Solar heat is absorbed by the wall’s dark-colored outside surface and stored in the wall’s mass, where it radiates into the living space.

The Trombe wall distributes or releases heat into the home over a period of several hours. Solar heat migrates through the wall, reaching its rear surface in the late afternoon or early evening. When the indoor temperature falls below that of the wall’s surface, heat begins to radiate and transfer into the room. For example, heat travels through a masonry wall at an average rate of 1 hour per inch. Therefore, the heat absorbed on the outside of an 8-inch-thick concrete wall at noon will enter the interior living space around 8 p.m.

Source: EERE

Once the system is successfully installed, don’t forget the annual maintenance. It’d be the best to use the same contractor who installed it in the first place to maintain the system. That’s another reason to find a good and experienced installer in the first place.

It’s true that the system will not come cheap. The cost of an active solar heating system starts from $30 to $80 per square foot of collector area installed. But your fuel bills will be reduced so much even just in the first month. You can even use it to heat water and to generate electricity. If you’re also environmentally responsible, it will reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. So if you know that you’ll stay in the house for a long time, then invest in a system.

Source: EERE

Even though these two systems differ in their fluid types, both of them collect and absorb solar radiation, then transfer the solar heat directly to the interior space or to a storage system, from which the heat is distributed.

Usually, in home heating, these systems might not be able to provide enough space heating, an auxiliary or back-up system provides the additional heat. Often time, the liquid system is more used when storage is included, and is better suited for radiant heating systems, boilers with hot water radiators, and even absorption heat pumps and coolers. If you have forced air systems, both air and liquid systems are great supplements.

Source: EERE

Artificial lighting can never replace natural light from the Sun. So if you’re thinking about buying or building a new home, consider the options of daylighting. Many schools are encouraged to have large windows to help improving students’ grades and health.

Source: EERE