Here Comes the Sun

Today I am harnessing the sun's energy as best I can in my tiny, low-efficiency, home. You see. The people who built our house, back in the 50's, couldn't tell which direction was which, or, this being Kansas, still didn't believe that the earth rotated around the sun or tilted on its axis or any of that hocus-pocus bull crap. But it does rotate and tilt and because this was not paid it's due attention, our house is hotter than it needs to be in the summer and colder than it should be in the winter.

You see, our house faces directly to the West. The front of our house couldn't be more in line with the west and the back of our house, with the East. Perfectly semetrical. Boo! In the summer, when the sun follows a straight, East to West path across the sky, we get full sunlight in, first, our back windows, then our front ones. Hot hot hot! Then in the winter when the sun takes a less presumptuous, southeast to southwest path across the southern sky only the south side of our house gets any direct sunlight and only for a short period of time. Cold cold cold! Duh people!!  We are a civilized species. Are you telling me that we have only figured out how to use the sun to our advantage in the past 60 years? Disgusting! I guess back then we also believed that we would never fill up our landfills either. <shaking head> It's pathetic.

If however, they had set our house at a southwestern angle, we would get the sun on two sides during the winter. We would then get direct sunlight on two corners of the house in the summer and with properly planted trees, we could curb any light (heat) hitting the windows at an angle. Also it would be easier to block the wind in the winter with some evergreens on either side of the southern corner. But that's just crazy talk... makes too much sense for us humans. The fact that we are the most intelligent life form on the planet really scares me somedays.

Anyway, if you would like more information about planting trees to optimize what little efficiency you may already have, check out The Arbor Day Foundation. They rock! Correction: They TREE!